Sword and Shield
by Sturm and Drang
Summary: Queen Mirella hasn't given up on getting the heroes to cooperate. But if all four of them are going to be childish about it… Well, sometimes, being a queen meant one had to take… extreme measures.
1. The More the Merrier

**Disclaimer: I don't own Shield Hero, I just write the story. **

**Chapter 1: A Plummeting Start**

**S&DS&DS&DS&D**

"Master, I'm out of food." Filo called.

"I filled your feed bag ten minutes ago." Naofumi sighed, glaring at the back of the bird's head. "You cannot _possibly_ be hungry already." The filolial craned her neck back to stare soulfully at him, the cloth bag around her neck looking as empty as a discarded sock. He considered this for a moment, then sighed. "Okay, fine. This is _you_ were talking about. But you_ shouldn't_ be."

"That's not fair, master." Filo whined. "It's not like I _want_ to be hungry. I just am."

"Yes, I know that's how it works. But can't you wait until we reach a rest stop before we fill it up?"

"Fine." The enormous bird pouted. He had no idea how she managed that with a beak, but she did.

"Thank you—Gah!" Naofumi yelped as the giant bird abruptly stopped, making the wagon jerk as it bumped into her and nearly pitching him headfirst off the seat. He heard a thud behind him as something in the wagon fell over. Hopefully that hadn't been the crate with the crystal balls in it…

"We've stopped, master!" She chirped happily. "Now we can fill up my bag!"

"Filo!" he barked, pushing himself back upright. "Don't just stop like that!"

"Master Naofumi!" Raphtalia stuck her head out from the curtain, nearly headbutting him in the process. "What's wrong?! Are we under attack?!" She was clutching her sword looking around wildly for the threat.

"No." He grunted. "Filo's just hungry."

"Oh." Raphtalia lowered her sword. "I thought there was an emergency."

"It's an emergency to Filo…" the bird grumbled.

"You be quiet." Naofumi chided, glancing at the her before turning back to Raphtalia. "Is everything alright back there? I thought I heard something fall."

"Yes…that was me." She admitted, raising a hand and rubbing her head gingerly. "I was taking a nap on top of some of the crates and rolled off when the cart stopped." She winced and pulled her hand back.

"You alright?" Naofumi asked, not unsympathetically. Not everyone could have a defense stat so high they could walk off a cliff and walk away without a scratch.

"It's nothing."

"Hmm. Well, climb up here." He scooted over on the bench to make room for her. She obliged, clambering through the curtain and taking a seat beside him.

"How much farther till we reach the shrine the queen told us about?" Raphtalia asked.

"Not certain, but I don't think it should be much more than an hour. Provided _somebody_ gets moving again." He answered, shooting a glance Filo.

"But Filo's still hungry."

"She also just ate." He snapped back. Filo stared at him with beseeching eyes, he stared back, unimpressed. He'd explained this to her multiple times that he did not, in fact, have an unlimited supply of food hidden in his pockets, but she just never seemed to believe him.

"Okay..." Filo sighed, bowing her head and beginning to trudge forward while giving off an almost tangible cloud of gloom. Naofumi sighed.

"Filo?"

"Yes master?"

"Toss me the feed bag." He said wearily. "I'll find something in the back to fill it with."

Filo perked up. "Really?"

"Yes, really." He sighed, reaching up with one hand to catch the bundle of cloth before it slapped him in the face.

"Filo will I'll pick up the pace!" she chirped happily, breaking out into a jog and jolting the wagon back into faster motion.

Raphtalia hissed, her hand moving back to her head. Naofumi raised an eyebrow. Had her fall really been that bad? It was almost comical to think about, considering he'd watched her behead demons without breaking a sweat.

"Want a healing potion?" he asked, rifling through the various pockets in his armor. He knew he had a draft of minor health restoration somewhere…

"No, it's fine." She answered, waving a hand dismissively.

"You sure?" Ah, left back pocket—why had he put it there? if he sat on it, it might break... He pulled out the glass vial out of one of his pouches and held it out to her.

"It's better you save it for something important."

"I think making sure you're not in pain _is_ important." He answered, matter-of-factly. It wasn't like he couldn't make more. Raphtalia stiffened and looked at him wide-eyes. That could not have possibly been a surprise for her to hear, could it?

"Er… well. If you _insist._" She took the vial and pried out the cork, staring glumly at the liquid inside.

Oh. So_ that_ was it. "I know it doesn't taste great, but that's just the way it is."

"I'm sorry, it's just… it tastes like liquefied grass."

"You're a big girl. You can take it."

"Don't treat me like a child. I'm not a kid!"

"That's exactly the kind of thing a kid would say."

She glared at him, but nonetheless tilted her head back and downed the contents.

Naofumi smirked, turning to climb into the back of the wagon. He pried off the lid of the rations barrel and sighed, only about one fourth full. It was easy enough to forage in Melomarc if you knew where to look, but it was time consuming. They'd had to do a lot more of it recently, just to keep Filo fed. It was either that, burn through all his money on food, or turn Filo loose every couple of hours to go find food for herself—that last one was definitely _not_ an option, she'd definitely wander onto some farmer's field and eat his entire crop if someone wasn't watching her.

Maybe if they were lucky, they'd get attacked by monsters—didn't matter what kind, that bird was a garbage disposal on legs.

"Filo, catch." He called, throwing the bag once he climbed back to the front. The filolial's head shot up, neatly snagging it out of the air.

"Thank you, master!" she chirped, half muffled by her beak already being stuffed in the bag.

"Uh huh."

"So," Raphtalia said, already looking more awake as she handed him back the empty vial. "What exactly did the queen want us to retrieve from this cave?"

"Not sure," he sighed. "She was strangely vague about it."

"DIdn't she say it would be critical to the survival of the kingdom?"

"Yeah, that's why the vagueness was odd." Naofumi shrugged. The queen had been pretty insistent, but it's not like he had anything else planned at the moment. Things were going pretty well with the village and he could spare a few days to run this errand for her.

"I suppose we'll just have to see what's so important when we get there."

"Guess so." He nodded, leaning back and shutting his eyes.

* * *

It was two hours before they arrived, and it turned out they weren'tthe first ones there.

"Naofumi."

"Hey Ren." Naofumi sighed, nodding to the sword hero. He glanced at the other people; he'd seen Ren's companions a few times, but he'd never bothered to learn their names. A couple of them, a female monk and male wizard looking guy nodded politely towards him, so that was nice. The lot of them were standing before a big stone door embedded in the side of a cliff. It was right by the side of the road and honestly looked pretty out of place. Naofumi's gaze slid back to Ren.

So… one of the other Cardinal Heroes just happens to be exactly where the queen had sent him?

What a _coincidence._

Ren crossed his arms. "What are you doing here?"

"The queen sent me." He answered, climbing off the wagon. "You?"

"The same," Ren answered, "She told me there was a treasure here meant to empower the heroes if they were capable of retrieving it." He narrowed his eyes. "Did she send you here to _babysit _me?"

"Nope." Naofumi answered. "Matter of fact, she didn't mention you at all." What did she think they were? Children who needed to be tricked or bribed into behaving? Well… okay, considering the other three heroes, that was fair. But…she didn't view him that way? Did she? It wasn't his fault the other three were so ridiculously shallow and annoying.

"So," he said, looking to escape that train of thought. "What are you all doing standing in the road? Having trouble getting in?

Ren just stared at him, probably trying to determine how likely Naofumi was to steal his thunder or something equally stupid.

"Okay. Fine." Naofumi sighed. "I'll just figure it out myself. I see you're standing in front of a door." He gestured with a finger. "It's a big, dungeon-y looking door. And it's closed. I'm guessing it's locked?" The wizard guy nodded. "Have you tried beating down the door?" That seemed like Ren's kinda thing.

"We were just about to try that when you showed up." Said the monk girl.

Ren glanced back at her, annoyed. "The queen stated that it would open when presented with a cardinal weapon," Ren said grudgingly. "But it hasn't worked."

Naofumi examined the door. There were four gems embedded in the center, one of which was glowing and projecting the glowing shape of a sword into the air.

Experimentally he held out his right arm, immediately the gem in the center of his shield ignited and a beam of light shot out of it. It connected with one of the dark gems, which ignited and began to project a glowing shield.

Something rumbled behind the door and a crack appeared in it, slowly the door began to move. Parting in the middle, each side slid into the ground, revealing a cavernous space beyond.

"…Of course." Ren sighed. "That over-powered shield opens it in an instant."

"Actually." Naofumi answered patiently. "I think it was that there needed to be two of the weapons to open it."

"…Oh." Ren said flatly, looking back toward the opening. "A Co-op dungeon."

"Looks like it." Naofumi nodded wearily.

Now it was becoming clear. The queen was still insisting that he work together with the other three heroes. Clearly, she wasn't satisfied with his efforts so far—which, if he was being honest, was fair—and had decided to create a situation where he'd have to team up with them.

Well… It could have been worse, he supposed. If he was going to work with one of the other heroes, he might as well start with Ren. The guy wasn't… terrible.

Well he wasn't Motoyasu, at least.

"So…" he began, turning to look at his fellow hero. "Hey!" Ren was already some distance away, marching resolutely down the road. "Where are you going?"

"I don't appreciate the queen's efforts to deceive me like this." Ren called back, "Besides, I don't really _do_ co-ops."

…Okay. Not being terrible didn't mean he was great. No doubt the queen wouldn't be too happy if he just let Ren walk away like this. He thought quickly, how to get the swordsman to come back? What did he know about the guy? He had this whole edgy lone wolf thing going, he was competitive…

"Oh," he called innocently. "You're just going to let me get all the loot?"

Ren stopped mid-step. He turned his head, giving Naofumi a sidelong look, one that said he knew exactly what Naofumi was trying to do. "Do you _really_ think there's going to be loot in there worth taking? This is clearly just an effort by the queen to make us _cooperate_." He spoke the last word like it had eight hairy legs and fangs.

"Oh, I'm sure that's part of it." Naofumi nodded. "But think about it, she's told us we all need to get as strong as possible, as_ fast_ as possible. Do you really think she'd waste our by sending us on a wild goose chase?" he pointed to the door. "This door required _two_ of the legendary weapons to even open. Can you imagine the kind of enemies that are going to be inside? And the level of gear they are going to be guarding?"

Ren turned around, frowning at the cavern opening. Naofumi could see the temptation in his eyes, but it looked like he would need another push.

"Actually, never mind." Naofumi shrugged. "I bet I can handle them myself." He rubbed his hands together. "Come on, Raphtalia. I bet you and I can clear it no sweat." He winked at her.

"Oh." She blinked, then nodded. "Of course. I have… uh… been looking to acquire a high-level sword."

Ren made a funny little noise, halfway between a scoff and groan. "Fine." He said curtly, marching back toward the opening. "I'll play the Queen's little game. Maybe that will get her off my back." He glanced at his companions. "We're going in."

"We're right behind you, Lord Ren." Said the wizard guy.

"Well alright then." Naofumi nodded. "Raphtalia, Filo. Come on."

There was a poof of smoke as Filo turned into her human form and slipping out of her harness. "What about the wagon, master?"

"We'll just leave it here for now." He answered. This road had been pretty much deserted and if someone did come along and steal it… well, he'd had a tracking spell installed on it. Worst came to worst; he'd put Filo on their trail and have her go to town.

"Try not to get in our way." Ren said as he stepped into the cavern.

Naofumi sighed. Oh yeah, this was going to be fun.

Naofumi groaned.

It had taken all of ten seconds for him to lose sight of Ren. The guy had immediately run ahead into the tunnel and disappeared around a bend. He could understand wanting to move quickly, but the swordsman had even left his companions behind.

"Does he _always_ run ahead like this?" he asked, glancing at the monk girl. She didn't look particularly concerned.

"Lord Ren has always been one for speed." The wizard guy sniffed. "He who strikes first, wins."

"Right… By the way, what are your names? Sorry, I don't think I ever learned them."

"I am Kýla." The girl said politely. "That's Galdur." She gestured to the mage.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Naofumi. That's Raphtalia and Filo." Raphtalia waved a hand, the other busy holding up a ball of glowing light. That was another thing, this tunnel wasn't lit. Did Ren have a source of light? Was he just feeling his way along the walls or something?

He was spared from having to ask when the tunnel opened up into a broader chamber. It was empty and lit with a several mage light torches lining the wall. Besides that, the chamber was empty save for a pedestal in the center of the room, a grey bell-shaped object was suspended over it and Ren was standing in front of it.

"Finally caught up, have you?" he said, glancing back at them.

"Yeah." Naofumi sighed. _Glad to see you didn't fall into a spike pit. _

"Galdur." Ren said, "Come over here. There's something written on this pedestal, but my sword isn't translating it."

"At once, Lord Ren." The mage hurried over to the sword hero and pent over the pillar. "Let me see…" He cleared his throat. "It says: "Come, oh heroes, with divine power bring. Bare your weapons, if you dare, and let the stone bell ring."

"Riddles?" Ren scoffed. "Is this going to be one of _those_ dungeons."

"I'm… not even sure what you mean by that." Naofumi said, raising an eyebrow. "But this one seems pretty straightforward. I think it's just saying we need to hit the bell with our weapons. Of course, it might be a trap."

"There is no other exit to this room." Ren answered. "So, our options are to either ring the bell or turn back." With that, he drew his sword and swung it in a fast arc into the bell. A sharp _ting _split the air, reverberating unnaturally loud around the chamber. As the echoes began to fade, a glowing ball of light descended from inside the bell and came to a stop over the pedestal.

Naofumi raised his shield, ready in case Ren had just done something monumentally stupid. But the orb just bobbed up and down in the air.

"Galdur, what is this?" Ren demanded, tapping the side of his head. "My HUD isn't telling me anything."

"I'm… not sure, milord. Some kind of magical construct."

"_This unit is identified as Ragna_." They jumped as a mechanical voice, like an autotuned set of chimes spoke. The orb flashed several times. "_Scanning… detecting presence of cardinal weapons sword and shield. Levels identified. Calibrating level of trial for balance."_

"Well, it looks like this place really was designed for the cardinal heroes." Raphtalia said.

"Hm." Ren snorted, "Well, then hopefully it truly will provide an adequate challenge for me. I'm not particularly hopeful, though."

The orb flashed. "_Traits of_ _Arrogance noted and catalogued. Readjusting level of trial to remediate_."

"Uh…" Ren blinked.

"Ren, quiet." Naofumi barked, alarmed. If this thing was really raising difficulty from a display of poor attitude, then…well, it was a good thing only _one_ of the other three heroes were here.

"Don't tell me what to do." The swordsman shot him a dirty look. "Well, Ragna, can we get started? Or what? I didn't come to this world to deal with loading screens."

"…_Query: the sword hero wishes to begin the trial immediately?"_

"Obviously!"

"_Request acknowledged. Skipping tutorial."_

"Wait—" Naofumi began.

"_Beginning Trial._" The orb shot out several beam of light that hit the ground by their feet and flashed across the floor, leaving each person standing in a circle of light. "_Isolating heroes now."_

Naofumi's eyes widened, and he spun toward Raphtalia just in time to see her vanish in a flash of light.

"Raphtalia!" he turned, but Filo had vanished too. It was just Him and Ren in the room.

"_Trial begun."_ The orb chirped.

And then the floor vanished and Naofumi began to fall.

**S&DS&DS&D**

**And that's the end of chapter one. For anyone who's interested, don't worry, we'll be seeing Raphtalia and Filo again. I'm writing this story because I love the characters of Naofumi and his daughters. I'm not going to just leave any of them out of it.**

**That said, my number one goal is that everyone be as in character as possible. I hope I've achieved that so far. Let me know if you think I'm succeeding.**

**Till next time!**


	2. First Challenges

**Wow, that was more reviews than I expected. Well, it definitely inspired me to churn out the next chapter and I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out. **

Chapter Two: First Challenges

**S&DS&DS&DS&D**

"Mother."

"Yes, Melty?" Mirellia looked up from her papers and smiled at her youngest daughter. Melty was always a fresh of breath air from stuffy foreign missives or her Shadows' reports of problems in the kingdom.

"I wish to know what task you've sent the Shield Hero on." Her daughter answered, clapping her hands in front of her. "I was making ready to visit him, but one of your Shadows informed me that he had departed somewhere at your behest. I had an important matter I wished to discuss with him."

Mirellia raised an eyebrow. "Did you?"

"I did," Melty turned up her nose. "Although the nature of the matter in question is no concern of yours."

"Oh?" Merellia resisted the urge to smile, Melty only spoke so stuffily when she was trying to hide something. "And what if the task I sent him on is no concern of yours?"

Melty paused. "Um…"

"…You had a playdate with Filo, didn't you?"

Melty wilted. Mirellia gave in and smiled, it was really just too cute. Her youngest did her best to be serious, devoted so much energy to becoming a proper queen. But it was good to see her acting her age. After all, Mirellia had no intention of going anywhere for a _long_ time. "I'm sorry to have inconvenienced you on so grave a matter, Melty. Perhaps if you had kept me informed of your plans, I could have strived to better accommodate you."

"Okay, _fine._" Melty groaned, giving up. "Are you going to tell me where you sent him or not?"

"I suppose I can." Mirellia sat back. "I sent him on a quest to conquer a specific dungeon, one called the Hálfviti's Trial."

"I've never heard of it."

"There was no reason you should have." Mirellia nodded. "It's rather obscure, only written of in the journals of past heroes. In fact, it can only be accessed if you have more than one of the cardinal weapons with you."

Melty frowned. "More than one?"

Mirellia smiled approvingly. "Indeed. I sent the Sword Hero on a quest there as well."

"Oh, Naofumi will _love_ that." Melty rolled her eyes.

"What he loves is not necessarilymy concern." Mirellia answered.

"You're trying to get him to work with the other heroes?"

"Of course." Mirellia frowned. "None of them understand how important it is for them to work together, just how much the world stands to lose if they fail."

"I think Naofumi does understand." Melty answered. "He just…" she frowned. "He has problems working with people he feels he can't trust."

"Yes, another one of your sister's _brilliant _political maneuvers." Mirellia sighed. "While I understand, and sympathize with his issues, I also do not have time for them. He may not have asked for the responsibilities of being a hero, but I also didn't ask to be queen. These responsibilities exist regardless of our wishes. We can either rise to meet them or…"

"Be like sis?"

"Yes." Mirellia sighed. She'd read a report that her daughter had literally set an entire mountain on fire while she had been gone. Did other parents have to worry about things like this?

"So, what's so special about this dungeon you've sent him to?" Melty asked, thankfully changing the subject.

"Well, by all accounts, it was actually created by one of the early heroes."

"Really?" Melty's eyes went wide.

"Oh yes," Mirella nodded. "You see, our current heroes are not the first set to have serious… interpersonal issues."

The hero who had created the dungeon had written quite excessively in his journal, which was now kept in the private royal archive. Apparently, his set of cardinal heroes had two women in it, and there had been a love triangle between them and the fourth hero. It would have been a rather juicy read if one ignored the fact that the resulting romantic tension could have spelled the end of the world if they hadn't reconciled.

"In the hope of helping to prevent such issues in future heroic cycles, this hero crafted a dungeon that would adapt to those who entered it and create challenges that forced cooperation."

"And do you think it will work?"

"Well, this dungeon has been utilized by several queens in the past. By all accounts it has achieved results." Mirellia paused. "Although I will admit the personal accounts of the heroes forced to visit it do not describe it in a very pleasant light." She shook her head. "But I'm sure our heroes will rise to the occasion."

"Are you certain?" Melty asked.

"Well, by all accounts no hero has come back from that place with any serious injuries," Mirellia shrugged. "So how terrible could it be?"

* * *

"Master Naofumi!" Raphtalia shouted, reaching out. But he was already gone. So was Filo… Actually, the whole room was gone.

"It seems we've been teleported." Raphtalia spun around at the voice, it was that monk girl. Kýla.

"To where?" Raphtalia demanded. This wasn't good! If she had been separated from Naofumi, Filo probably had been as well. Naofumi couldn't fight alone! Well, no, that _wasn't _true, but he couldn't do so e_ffectively_! What if he got attacked by some monster who only attacked at range? If he had to resort to the Curse Series without her there to pull him back…

"I haven't the slightest clue." Kýla shrugged. Raphtalia stared at her. Wasn't she Ren's companion? She didn't look the least bit concerned that he might be in danger.

"_Prepare for commencement of the companion trial._" Raphtalia spun around. And caught sight of a glowing ball of light.

"Ragna!" she shouted, her hand moving to grasp the comforting weight of her sword hilt. "What have you done with Master Naofumi?"

The ball didn't answer, instead sinking into the floor. As it did, something else began to rise. A giant pair of stone hands pushed out of the floor, like a rising mountain a figure rose up to fill the chamber. Twice Raphtalia height and three times as broad, its face was featureless except for a pair of empty eye sockets. A fire ignited in the sockets and the figure began to stomp forward each step shacking the cavern as its eyes burned like a furnace.

Raphtalia drew her sword, her eyes darting left and right. There didn't appear to be an exit to the room. It looked like they were being given no option except to fight.

It seemed Master Naofumi would have to survive without her, for now.

* * *

When the floor had fallen away, Ren couldn't deny that he'd felt a bit of panic. But the drop hadn't been too big, twenty meters at the most and he managed to land neatly on his feet—an easy task for someone with dexterity as high as his.

Naofumi wasn't as fortunate, and Ren couldn't deny a little bit of vindictive satisfaction when he saw the shield hero smack unceremoniously on the ground beside him. Well, you didn't need to be skilled to hold up a slab of metal between you and an attacker. He thought about asking if he was alright, but the guy pushed himself to his feet almost immediately.

"Raphtalia! Filo!" He called, spinning around wildly.

"They're gone." Ren answered calmly. Kýla and Galdur were gone too, but Ren wasn't worried. If they weren't capable of taking care of themselves, he wouldn't have kept them as his companions in the first place.

"I can see that." Naofumi snapped. "But _where_ have they gone?" he threw back his head. "Ragna!" he shouted. "What have you done with Raphtalia and Filo?"

The magical construct, or whatever it was, didn't answer.

"It said something about isolating the heroes, which is us." Ren said. "It probably just zapped them back to the entrance so that just we could take the trial." He shrugged. "So, calm down."

Naofumi shot him a positively _venomous_ glare, and Ren scowled right back.

He didn't understand why Naofumi was so distressed over being separated from that racoon girl and his giant bird girl. There was nothing they could do about it at the moment.

Maybe it had something to do with the guy's weird obsession for depending on others? Sure, he could understand Naofumi had needed someone to fight with when he was starting out at level one, but they were well passed that point. Naofumi's shield had been shown to possess multiple OP abilities as he leveled up, so _why_ did he cling so much to his companions?

Ren shook his head and turned to examine where they had been dropped. Nothing had attacked them yet, but this didn't look like a room that would hold enemies anyway—more like the start of a long corridor. They'd likely need to get to the first challenge room—that was how all dungeons worked. At least there was only one direction to go.

Ren set off down the passageway and heard Naofumi fall in step beside him. Not an ideal situation for either of them, but they'd just have to put up with each other for now.

"So did the Queen actually tell you anything about this place?" Naofumi asked. "She told me basically nothing. Just that it was important, and she wanted me to go."

"That was essentially what I was told." Ren answered. The queen had been quite insistent about it. He'd wanted to blow her off, he was fully capable of deciding his own path, but his companions had talked him into going along with her side quest. They seemed much more in awe of the Queen than the King—which perhaps made sense, given that Melomarc was a matriarchy. But there was something about the queen that rubbed him the wrong way, she looked down her nose at him, treated him like he was a _child._

He was the sword hero. One of the main characters of the game. Surely, he deserved a little respect? But did tha—

His ring was vibrating.

He froze midstep, but Naofumi walked right by him.

"Naofumi, stop!" He shouted.

"What?" Naofumi's head snapped around as he took one final step and something beneath his foot went _click._

Ren's hand shot out and snagged Naofumi's shoulder. Activating his Dash skill, he shot himself backward, dragging the Shield Hero with him as the screech of grinding metal filled the corridor and something shot out of the wall on their left and slammed into the other.

Ren landed hard awkwardly, nearly overbalancing and falling under the weight of Naofumi's bulky armor. But he just managed to keep his footing by dropping the Shield Hero.

They both stood still as the sound of metal on stone faded, staring at the black metal spear that had embedded itself in the wall.

"Booby traps." Ren growled, glaring at the spear. The queen had told him he could grow stronger here. But dodging traps wouldn't give him so much as a single experience point. There had better be some seriously good loot at the end of this dungeon, or he was going to have _words_ for her.

"…I see." Naofumi pushed himself to his feet, looking only slightly shaken, but his eyes were locked on the point of the spear embedded in the wall. His gaze slid to the floor; the place he had stepped looked no different from its surroundings; just a patch of smooth grey stone dimly lit by the glowing lights lining the walls. Naofumi turned towards Ren.

"You reacted before I'd even stepped on it." He said. "How did you know?"

"My ring told me." Ren pulled off his left glove and held up his hand, revealing a brass ring inlaid with several small rubies. "It's enchanted with Detect Trap." He explained. "It vibrates when I'm in the vicinity of a potential harmful trap—either magical or mechanical in nature."

"I see." Naofumi's hand went to his chin as he examined the piece of jewelry. "A Spidey Sense for traps? Sounds useful, but the warning almost came too late."

Ren shook his head. "That was my error. I was thinking about something else, and I expected this dungeon to be monster-based, so I wasn't paying attention to it."

"Why do you even have something like that?" Naofumi asked.

"I prefer to do dungeons like these by myself. As such, I need to be prepared for anything I might encounter." Well, actually, he'd had the ring commissioned after nearly dying in a spike pit for the second time, but Naofumi looked mildly impressed by the explanation, so he didn't need to know that part of the story.

"I see." He turned back toward the spear again. "Well, if there was one trap, there are going to be more." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, his eyes narrowing. "We shouldn't activate any trigger plates if we don't touch the floor. I could create a series of Air Strike Shield above the floor and we could walk on those. But I don't know how long we don't know how long this corridor is. Air Strike Shield doesn't consume that much SP, but if I have to make a hundred of them, I'll start running low."

"You don't have some kind of mobile barrier skill?"

"Not unless you want to get in a shield prison with me and roll it like a hamster ball."

"Tempting." Ren snorted, replacing his glove. "But unnecessary. We should proceed normally, and I will play closer attention to the ring's warning. When I detect a trap, we can proceed on your shields until the danger has passed."

"Hmmm." Naofumi nodded. "Sounds like a plan." He gestured down the corridor. "Lead the way then, I'll be right behind you. And I'll be ready to throw up a shield prison if any traps trigger anyway."

Ren thought it over once more, then nodded. It was a good plan, and it shouldn't slow them down that much. It was possible that he could have just used his Dash skill to outrun any traps he triggered, but that only worked in certain cases. It wouldn't work if something insane happened, such as the ceiling caving in. Besides, it would be better to let Naofumi use his SP and let him conserve his.

"Let's go."

Naofumi nodded, then paused. "Ren?"

Something in his voice made Ren glance back. "Yeah?"

"Thanks. I owe you one."

"Hmmph." Ren looked away. "…You're welcome."

* * *

Raphtalia leapt to the side as a stone fist crashed into the floor.

She didn't bother trying to counter-attack. Her enemy was made of stone, her sword just bounced off. She wasn't Filo, she didn't have the brute force necessary to cut this type of enemy.

The golem turned to grab her, but there was a flash of green as Kýla came leaping through the air and slammed her leg into the golem's head, causing it to stagger. Raphtalia darted forward. Circling around behind the creature she leapt and slammed the hilt of her sword into its shoulder, sending the already teetering creature tumbled to the ground.

The impact shook the ground and she saw several cracks spread throughout the creature's boxy, but that didn't seem to slow it down as it pushed itself upright.

Raphtalia squinted, was it just her eyes playing tricks on her, or was there a faint glow coming from one of the cracks?

Hesitation would get her nowhere. Raphtalia slid her sword back into its scabbard and drew out the hilt of the mana sword Erhard had given her. The blade was meant for cutting intangible enemies such as wraiths, it wouldn't have an effect on a mindless creature made of rock, but if it had a magical core powering it…

"I'm going to strike it from behind, keep it occupied." She called.

The martial artist nodded and moved to intercept the golem as it lumbered forward, dancing around its clumsy attempts to grab her. Raphtalia circled behind it. When she was within striking distance, the golem spun to face her, but she was already moving. The intangible blade slid effortlessly into the rock where she could see the glow and she released a burst of magical power from the sword.

The golem froze, arms stretched out to grab her. Then the fire in its eye sockets went out like a snuffed candle and it keeled over with a resounding slam.

"Nicely done." Kýla commented. There was a sound of grinding stone and a section of the wall slid away, revealing a corridor behind it. "Shall we continue? Or would you like to catch your breath first?"

Raphtalia shook her head, sliding the hilt of her mana blade back into her pocket. She glanced back at the pile of broken rock once more. The golem hadn't been particularly dangerous, merely a bad matchup for her skills. Hopefully not everything they had to fight would be made of stone like that.

She shook her head. If they were, then she would just have to deal with it. Master Naofumi deserved no less. She just hoped that, wherever they were, her friends were doing alright.

* * *

"This sucks." Filo pouted, poking the pieces of rubble that had been attacking her a few moments ago. "I can't eat rock."

Galdur stared at her, more than a little horrified.

When that golem had risen out of the ground, he had been a little concerned. He had spells that would have likely sufficed in taking it down, but he'd have needed time to cast them and instead of having Kýla to soak up the damage, all he had to help him was a little girl in a frilly white dress.

Then he had watched said girl leap onto the golem's shoulders and _pulverize_ it into gravel with her bare hands.

He took a deep breath, letting the hand clutching his wand fall limply to his side, and forcefully reminded himself that this girl _wasn't_ human.

She was a filolial. More than that, she was a filolial queen. He'd read about them; rarer than Archdragons and every bit as powerful—where in the world had the Shield Hero found her?

He'd seen her in her monster form, pulling the Shield Hero's carriage like a common beast of burden. He'd even seen her transform into this little girl not half an hour ago—he'd thought it was something the Shield Hero had her do to rein in her power and keep her under control or something of that nature. If you had a pet dragon, you couldn't just let it run _wild._

But evidently this was not the case.

"Master said we could get food when we stopped." The girl whined, picking up a chunk of rock and hurling it against the wall. "But we went in here instead and Filo left her snacks in the wagon." She turned a pair of bright blue eyes towards him. "What about you, wizard guy? Do you have any food on you?"

"Er… it's Galdur, and I'm afraid not."

The girl puffed up her cheeks and pouted at him.

_You may not have food. _A treacherous part of his mind whispered. _But strictly speaking, you are MADE of food…_

"Why don't we continue with the trial?" he blurted, clapping his hands together. "There's a chance we might encounter more organic enemies and, if not, then the faster we complete it, then the faster we can get out of this place? Then you can retrieve your snacks!"

"Hey, yeah!" The girl perked up immediately. There was a puff of smoke and where she had crouched there was a giant white bird that towered over him. She craned her neck and stared down her beak at him. "Climb on my back, wizard guy, Filo will have us out of here in no time!" The chamber filled with a loud rumble, and the filolial's beak twitched.

Well, he probably didn't _have_ to go with her. But… he glanced at the remains of the golem. He was by no means weak, but there were few worse places for a wizard to be than trapped in a dungeon without front line support. Still…

"Come on, wizard guy!" the monster chirped, annoyed. "Filo doesn't have all day. Would you like Filo to carry you in her beak instead? She can do that if you want."

"That's quite alright!" Galdur said quickly, hurrying to clamber onto the bird's back. Well, with a filolial queen on his side, surely they'd be able to break through whatever monsters they encountered fairly quickly...

The moment he was on her back, the filolial took off down the hall, wind whipping in his ears as she picked up speed.

Galdur leaned in closer to the feathers and whimpered.

S&DS&DS&DS&D

**And a second chapter done!**

**Characters doing things. Some will get more screen time than others, but as far as I'm concerned, **_**everyone**_** gets a turn. **

**Also, if anyone cares. The name of the dungeon: Hálfviti's trial. Go type Hálfviti into Google translate and see what pops up. Don't forget the á. I assure you, It's very clever. **

**Hope you enjoyed!**


	3. Puzzles and Other Fun Things

**Hey all! Back for another chapter. Gotta keep going while the inspiration is hot, otherwise I'll get bogged down. **

**Onwards!**

**Chapter Three: Puzzles and Other Types of Fun**

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There was a click, and then the chamber filled with a loud thrum like a jet engine.

Naofumi groaned as he saw Ren come sailing back through the air and hit the ground beside him.

"Naofumi!" Ren snarled, barely audible over the screaming rush of air as he climbed to his feet. "You need to stand on the switches!"

"It's on a _timer_, Ren." Naofumi snapped back. "It doesn't matter if I keep standing on it! You need to be faster."

"How am I supposed to reach the other side quickly when it keeps putting up walls in front of me?!" Ren snapped back.

"Try using your brain and remember where they are. If that's just _too _hard. Why don't _you_ activate the switches and let _me _try?"

"Are you trying to tell me your speed stat is higher than mine?" Ren scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous." He marched passed Naofumi to the line that signified the farthest reach of the winds. "Just activate the switch, I'm going again."

"_Fine._ Knock yourself out." Naofumi stomped on the square section of stone jutting out of the floor. There was a barely audible click and the chamber fell silent.

Ren broke into a run, his body becoming a blur as he activated some kind of speed skill. A barrier of shimmering light materialized that spanned the width of the chamber. Naofumi moved to the other side of the entryway and stomped on a second switch. The barrier of light disintegrated and Ren burst through the lingering glimmers.

The barrier reformed a moment after Ren passed it, but Naofumi could still see him. It looked for all the world like a straight shot between him and the glowing ball of light that was beside the far door. According to Ren, once he managed to reach the far switch, all the traps and things would deactivate.

But as Ren drew closer, the ground rumbled and sections of stone rose up, creating walls with only a narrow gap between them on one side. Naofumi watched as the sword hero darted into the opening and out of sight. He stomped back to the first switch and stood on it—not that it would make a difference, the wind would resume regardless, and the switch wouldn't pop back up until Ren had been blown back all the way to the entrance.

Naofumi sighed. Who knew, maybe this time Ren would make it through the maze before the timer ran out?

"Ninety-seven… ninety-eight…" he mumbled. "Ninety-nine…" There was a click, the roar resumed, the stone walls sunk back into the floor and Naofumi sighed as Ren was plucked off the floor and came sailing back. He held out his arm, "Feather Shield." He muttered, the shield obliged, transforming into the shape of a large golden feather and a cloud of fluff materialized in midair next to him. Ren hit the cloud and slowed immediately to a halt as it gently lowered him to the floor.

"I _almost_ had it!" Ren snarled, leaping to his feet.

_You've said that the last three times._

"Again!"

"Ren."

"_Again_!" Ren snarled. Naofumi could see sweat running down the guy's face and he didn't blame him. This had to be the sixth or seventh time he'd been thrown across the room.

"Ren, _stop._" Naofumi said. "You're clearly getting tired. Just take a break." Ren turned to glare at him. Naofumi rolled his eyes and held out his shield. "Picnic Shield." His shield morphed into a circle of woven whicker, Naofumi held it out horizontally in front of him and tapped the edge of it with his free hand, a section opened on the shield. He stuck his hand in and pulled out a waterskin. "At least have a drink of water." He said, offering the bag.

Ren stared at the bag, then at the shield, and then at him.

"That's the stupidest power I've ever seen."

"I think the word you were looking for is practical." Naofumi answered. "It lets me store food and water for emergencies. Like when I'm trapped in a dungeon without any convenience stores."

"I have potions." Ren grumbled.

"And I know for a fact that they all taste like crap. Now do you want the water or not?" he shook the bag a little. Ren stared at it, then glanced back at the glowing barrier.

"…Fine." He sighed, letting out a frustrated breath. "I can take a quick break. You said you had food as well?"

He nodded, handing over the water and reaching back into the shield. He always made sure to keep it stocked with enough food and water for a few days, just in case—_Filo could never know._

Ren sat down and pulled out the skin's stopper. He threw back his head and chugged.

"Don't drink all of it." Naofumi said, as Ren chugged the water like there was no tomorrow. "I've only got two more bags of the stuff."

"Fine." Ren grumbled, pulling the waterskin from his lips.

Naofumi rummaged around in his shield for some food and passed it to Ren before turning to contemplate the barriers blocking their way. It reminded him of a puzzle dungeon. He'd kind of liked playing those kinds of games, the one where you were that guy in a green hat who went around slogging through all kinds of hazards.

But it seemed a little less fun when _you_ were the one jumping over pits and dodging giant boulders, only to have to go back and start over when the timer ran out.

"I believe I should be able to reach the end within three more tries." Ren said.

"You don't want me to try for a bit?"

"There's no point. Even if you had the speed for it, you'd have to start from scratch in memorizing the turns of the maze. We'd be wasting more energy if you tried to run it."

"Hmm." Naofumi sighed, this was making him feel a little useless. "Well, I'll take the hard part on the next room."

"If you even can." Ren shrugged.

Naofumi's eyes narrowed but he bit back a retort. Snapping at Ren would _not_ help the situation.

Ren stood up. "I've rested enough. I'm going for it."

"Fine." Naofumi answered blandly, taking back the waterskin and shoving it in his shield. He moved for the first switch and stomped on it. Ren began to run.

Hopefully Raphtalia and Filo were doing better than them. He kept receiving messages about earned experience so at least one of them had to be fighting something…

* * *

Kýla spun and stomped downward, crushing the head of a giant spider that was creeping towards her. Movement overhead made her snap her head up. Another spider was dropping down on her, legs outstretched as if to embrace her and dagger-like fangs glinting with venom. No time to move out of the way, she'd need to catch its fangs and try to crush it without getting bitten. She raised her fists, but then a brown blur shot overhead. There was a flash of silver and the descending spider fell into two pieces, neatly vivisected down the middle.

"Thanks," Kýla nodded wearily.

"I think that was the last one." Raphtalia answered, panting.

Kýla glanced around at the curtains of web that surrounded them, the white strands hung limply, bereft of any signs of movement. The floor was scattered the corpses of spiders, twitching in their death throes. She couldn't see any more waiting in the webs, but that didn't mean there weren't more. "Then let's get out of here." She nodded toward the exit, or at least what was probably the exit. It was so thoroughly wrapped in webs she couldn't actually see a tunnel beyond, but it was opposite the entrance. "I'll lead the way, if I get caught in webbing, I'll need you to cut me free."

Raphtalia nodded, raising her sword. They moved cautiously, stepping around the sticky white strands. Kýla had already been nearly caught in them twice, and she didn't need a repeat. She wished Galdur was here, he could have just chucked a fireball and burned all the webs and their many-legged occupants to cinders from afar safety.

Her shoulder brushed up against a hanging strand as thick as her wrist and she froze as it stuck to her skin. Jerking away would only make it worse, maybe getting her stuck in other strands. "Raphtalia." She murmured.

The demi-human swung her blade in a neat arc and severed the strand just above where it was touching her. It would have to do, she nodded her thanks and kept moving. They reached the mass of webbing and she breathed a sigh of relief. She could see empty space beyond the webbing, so this was definitely the exit.

"Can you cut through this?" she asked, pushing away the feeling of uselessness. She much preferred her fists to weapons—that way she never went anywhere unarmed—but she couldn't punch her way through the silk.

"I believe so." Raphtalia nodded. "Keep an eye out in case any other spiders are around."

"I will." Kýla turned as her companion began to slice at the webbing. She cast her eyes around the carnage, dozens of giant spiders lay scattered across the floor or hanging limply from the webs—bodies crushed or sliced apart. Perhaps it was better that Galdur wasn't here. The wizard was _terrified _of bugs, he'd have flooded the place with so much fire they wouldn't have been able to pass through for hours.

"I'm through." The martial artist turned and followed the demi-human through the space cut in the wall of web and stepped out into a wonderfully web-free corridor. "Let's move a bit farther down and take a rest." Raphtalia said. "I want to…" she looked down at herself and grimaced. "Clean myself up a bit." Kýla glanced at her. The demi-human had splotches of dull green spider guts splashed across her armor and there were a few strands of webbing clinging to her hair.

Well… she probably didn't look much better herself. "Alright."

Once they'd put enough distance between themselves and the former spider den, Kýla leaned against and let herself slid into a sitting position with a satisfied groan. "That," she said, carefully trying to peel the strand of webbing from her shoulder, "was _not_ fun."

"I agree." Raphtalia nodded wearily, wincing as she yanked the web out of her hair. "I couldn't maneuver like I wanted to with all the spiderwebs. It was very frustrating."

"At least you could cut yourself free." Kýla answered. Peeling the strand from her shoulder only for it to get stuck to her other arm. "I may need to start carrying a knife with me in future. Thank you for your assistance."

"You are welcome, and you handled yourself well." Raphtalia answered, wiping off what gore she could. "Thank you for giving me that antidote. When that second spider managed to bite me…" she grimaced, one hand going up to rub her shoulder and fingering a pair of holes in her leather armor.

"It's fine." Kýla nodded, trying to wipe the webbing off onto the wall. "Lord Ren always strives to be equipped to handle any eventuality, and the rest of us try to follow his example." She paused and her lips quirked. "That said, I don't have anymore." Her gi didn't exactly have very big pockets.

"I see. Normally Master Naofumi carries the potions and such. I may have to ask Erhard to make a pouch in my armor to store my own supply." Raphtalia looked pulled a cloth and began to wipe the viscera off her sword.

They lapsed into silence for a few minutes, doing their best to clean themselves up. Eventually Raphtalia spoke up. "I think I've seen you before once or twice. At the castle."

Kýla nodded, "I remember seeing you as well." How could she not? The girl had been at the center of that spat between the Shield and Spear after the first wave.

"So…you are Ren's companion."

"I do have that honor."

"How exactly does that work?" The demi-human glanced at her curiously. "I've heard he fights alone."

"It's true. He assigns us missions and takes on others on his own. We bring back rare materials for him."

"So…" she tilted her head to one-side, frowning. "He's just using you to benefit himself?"

"It isn't like that." Kýla scoffed. "Having us work separately is efficient for growing our strength. It doesn't matter how far apart we are; our status as companions allows us all to share in the experience of our victories. Having us fight separate enemies allows us all to grow that much faster. In return, we provide him with his own personal means of strengthening his weapon." She raised her chin. "We aren't his _slaves_."

It was the wrong thing to say. She knew it immediately as Raphtalia stiffened, her drooping ears going erect and looking away.

Kýla winced, ashamed. The demi-human had saved her life every bit as much as Kýla had saved hers and she had not deserved that. It was not Raphtalia's fault she was a slave. It must be terrible to be so strong and yet still be forced to bow to another's whims just because they'd had a few coins to toss around. Kýla opened her mouth to apologize, but Raphtalia spoke over her.

"It's true." She said simply, reaching up and unbuttoning the top of her armor to reveal the black slave seal on her chest. "I am Master Naofumi's slave." Raphtalia snapped her head back, and Kýla blinked at the iron in her gaze. "And I am _not_ ashamed. I have no doubt you've heard many stories about Master Naofumi. About the _Demon of the Shield._" The contempt in her voice at the title was almost a physical force. "But they are _all_ lies."

"But… you _are_ his slave. He _bought _you."

"Yes, he bought me. He found me half-dead in a cage, surrounded by horror and misery and he took me _away_ from there. He fed me, cured me of my illness, and gave me a chance at life that the _noble_ kingdom of Melomarc stripped away. Without him, I would be dead by now. He chose me, forged me into his sword, and I will fight _anyone_ who tries to take me away from him."

"I…see." Kýla said, looking down and feeling ashamed for not being able to meet that steely gaze. "I apologize. I… it was not my intention to imply that… I wasn't…"

She heard Raphtalia sigh. "It's fine, forget it." She said, climbing to her feet. "As long as you understand now. I think we've rested enough. Ready to keep moving?"

"…Yes." Kýla climbed to her feet, glad of an excuse to drop the conversation.

"Then let's go."

* * *

Filo stalked back and forth, her wings hanging glumly by her side.

She didn't like this place. She didn't like it _one _bit.

Master was gone. Big Sis was gone. She was stuck underground and there was still _nothing _to eat but rock, rocks, and even more rocks.

She wasn't even able to move forward at the moment. The door was blocked by some kind of stupid lock that didn't make sense. She'd tried clawing it open, but her claws just went through it like it was a ghost or something. Wizard guy said he could open it, but from what she could see all he was doing was poking at it and muttering to himself.

There had to be _something_ she could do to get them out of here…

"Hey, wizard guy? We're underground, right?"

"I assume so," he said distractedly, not looking her way as he tapped his fingers against the door. "Aha! This isn't Zerejion's elemental seal, it only _looks _like it. So that would mean I need to…"

"I've been thinking, if I jump up and start hitting the ceiling and just keep going up. We should be able to get out of here, right?" That made sense, right? There could only be so much rock overhead.

"Please. Don't." Wizard guy answered, his voice squeaking. Filo giggled softly; he sounded like a mouse! "You might bring collapse the ceiling on us! Just… just be patient, please." He smiled at her weakly. "I promise I've almost got this figured out."

"Okay…" Filo sighed. She plunked herself down on the stone floor and closed her eyes. "Filo's going to take a nap." She yawned. "Let her know when you're done."

"Er… yes. That's a good idea. Just sit there quietly and don't do anything."

It was funny, that was exactly the kind of thing Master told her from time to time. She wondered why that was…

* * *

There was the sound of a ringing bell, and Naofumi saw the stone walls sinking into the floor, revealing Ren on the far side hand on the switch. "Nicely done." Naofumi called, crossing the room.

"Whatever." Ren scowled. "This won't help me level up at all."

"Well, hopefully there will be something good in the next room." Naofumi answered, reaching out to grasp the door handle. But paused, he could hear something. A sort of bouncing noise, like someone was dribbling and enormous rubber ball. He jumped back an instant before the door slammed open.

A giant streak of silver came hurtling out into the room, nearly trampling him in the process. Naofumi raised his shield, but the thing ignored them and went zipping toward the far wall.

"Block the exit!" Ren snapped, "Don't let it get away!" There was an urgency in his voice that urged Naofumi to listen. He threw out his hand and a glowing yellow shield materialized, neatly blocking off the far door. The blur slammed into it with a meaty slap that echoed around the chamber. It stopped for just a moment and Naofumi could see it was some kind of giant Balloon monster.

The swordsman was right behind it. "Meteor Slash!" His blade ignited as he swung it around in a lethal arc. The sword slammed into the balloon, but rather than popping, the monster's body scrunched up around the weapon and went soaring through the air like he'd used a baseball bat instead of a blade.

It hit the ground rolling and took off, zipping across the cavern almost too fast for the eye to follow.

"Cut it off!" Ren yelled, his body blurring as he took off after it.

Naofumi frowned but summoned several more Air Strike Shields. The balloon moved even faster, blitzing straight up the barriers and leaping off the top.

Naofumi scowled. The thing was faster than Filo was the one time he'd let her have caffeine. He may have trapped it in the room with them, but they'd never catch it at this rate. Better switch it up.

He raised the shield over his head. "Hate Reaction!" A red haze filled the room, and when it reached the balloon it immediately changed direction, charging Naofumi and leaping into the air, its body hinging open to reveal jagged teeth.

Its jaws closed on the shield with a clang and Naofumi finally got a good enough look at it for the HUD to register.

**Metal King Balloon, Lv. 60.**

"Perfect!" Ren called, coming in with his sword held high. "Hold it there."

"Uh…"

"Hundred-fold Slash!" Ren yelled, leaping into the air. His sword blurred as he shot past the balloon and landed behind them. The monster went still for a moment, then started jerking wildly as though it was getting pummeled from every angle.

There was a loud crack, and the balloon died, its body liquifying.

"Ugh." Naofumi scowled as the silvery liquid run off his shield and dripped all over him.

"Yes!" Ren said, pumping a fist triumphantly. "I got it."

"Hurray." Naofumi deadpanned, shaking himself in a semi-futile effort to get the gunk off. "Now why is that such a good thing?"

"Metal mobs like that are hard to kill," Ren explained, sheathing his sword. "Their defense is so high it's almost impossible to deal more than 1 damage to them at a time. But if you manage to kill one, they give a lot of EXP." Ren said, bringing up his stat screen and smirking in satisfaction. "It leveled me up and I'm almost halfway to my next one. Maybe this place isn't going to be a waste of my time after all."

"..." Naofumi could feel his eyebrow twitching as a drop of slime ran down his face.

Ren and he weren't registered as companions, so he hadn't gotten a single point from that. He opened his mouth, then closed it again and sighed. Pursuing the matter would only cause an argument. He eyed the looked down at the puddle of slime at his feet and raised his shield. The weapon glowed and the puddle disappeared. He opened up his stat screen.

**Liquid** **Metal King Shield Unlocked.**

** Active Effects: +30% resistance to heat and cold based damage. **

** Active Skill: Balloon Party—Summon 10 random balloon monsters to fight for you.**

** Passive Effect: +30 Defense**

"Plus thirty defense?" he blurted, raising an eyebrow. That was ten times the usual stat gain he could expect from unlocking a new shield. The other abilities were okay, certainly a useful shield if a dragon breathed fire at him or something. The active skill… well, that probably wouldn't be that useful with how weak balloons were, but…

Naofumi smirked. The next time Motoyasu got up in his face…

"What?" Ren's head snapped up from his screen. "It gave you that big of a buff? I only got four defense points from leveling up _twice_."

"Well, defense _is_ sort of my thing." Naofumi shrugged, Ren stared at him for a moment, then shook his head.

"Overpowered shield." He muttered, turning and stomping over to the door.

"Ren…" Naofumi called, but the Sword Hero yanked open the door and strode through it. Naofumi rolled his eyes but followed. The sooner they got through this place, the better.

* * *

In a dimly lit chamber, a bell chimed, and the construct known as Ragna began to glow.

_"Further analysis of Cardinal Heroes and companion's abilities complete…" _

_ "Access to curse series detected." _Ragna flashed red, and then blue._ "Activating countermeasures…"_

_ "…Scanning…Scanning…Suitable adversaries found. Preparing battlegrounds…"_

A low hum began to fill the chamber as Ragna lit up like a miniature sun.

"_Beginning mini-boss sub-routine, Challenge level set: High."_

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**And another one done! Reviews keep me motivated, so if there was any part you liked, or **_**didn't**_** like. Feel free to speak up!**

**Till next time. **


	4. Dragged to the Deep End

**This chapter was a bit of an ordeal. I had trouble writing most of it then, once I was done, my Beta didn't care for most of it. **

**I value his opinion immensely, and with his suggestions, I rewrote at least half the chapter. **

**I think it came out okay.**

**Hopefully you'll let me know if you agree!**

**Chapter 4: Dragged to the Deep End**

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The door opened and a wave of hot air enveloped them. Naofumi blinked, the uniform grey stone they'd seen till now had given way to uneven brown rock. The cavern beyond was pockmarked with craters, some of which were filled with water and steaming softly in the quiet air.

"Well, the change of scenery is nice." Naofumi commented, stepping into the cavern. The air wasn't quite hot enough to feel like a sauna, just unpleasantly sticky. Hopefully they wouldn't have to spend too long in here.

Ren, already moving between the pools, didn't answer. Naofumi felt his eye twitching, and her took a deep breath. He was pretty sure attempting to brain Ren with his shield would not improve the situation, but the guy's attitude was making it hard to remember why.

Ren stopped abruptly in the middle of the room and raised his sword, as though he was getting ready to face down a dragon.

"…What are you doing?"

"Getting ready, obviously."

"… For?"

Ren shot him a contemptuous glance. "Don't you realize what this room is?"

Naofumi glanced around, raising an eyebrow. "A hot spring?"

Ren snorted and turned away. Naofumi waited for a moment, but the swordsman failed to elaborate.

_It would be so satisfying to shove him into one of the pools. _

"Then what is it?" He asked, trying not to grit his teeth.

Ren sighed, as though _Naofumi_ was the one being difficult. "This," he said slowly. "Is a boss room."

"A boss room?"

"Or a mini-boss room." The swordsman shrugged. "I can tell because of the changed environment and the overall layout. There's something in here we're going to have to fight to progress." He tightened his grip on his sword. "I intend to be ready. I suggest you do the same."

"O-_kay…_" he said, eyeing Ren doubtfully. It was true that there were a lot of ways this world was like a video game, but there were also a lot of ways that it wasn't. No doubt Ren was just jumpy because he couldn't swim worth a damn.

Something splashed behind them.

They both spun around, weapons raised. But there was nothing there except another pool, its surface covered in slowly fading ripples.

"Really?" Ren scoffed, stalking forward. "A room filled with pools of water, and there's enemies _hiding _in them? I _never _would have guessed."

Naofumi held his shield at the ready, in case he needed to throw up a barrier. He had a brief mental image of some kind of ten-ton alligator lunging out of the water and dragging Ren under the moment he got close—it would be _exactly_ the kind of thing he'd come to expect from the other Heroes.

But then Ren broke into a run and leapt forward. "Thunder Sword!" The air crackled as lighting danced along his blade. He thrust the weapon into the pool and the water roiled as lighting surged into it.

They waited a few moments, but nothing floated belly-up to the surface.

Naofumi bit back a sarcastic comment. It honestly hadn't been a bad idea. "Maybe the pools are connected and whatever it was ducked away?" he suggested.

"Well then," Ren snapped. "Why don't you use make yourself useful and draw it out with your OP shield?"

Naofumi rolled his eyes but argument would get them nowhere. Did he even have any skills that would be useful here? He opened his menu screen and scrolled through his shield list.

He'd unlocked a water-breathing shield after the last wave, but he wasn't about to jump into a near boiling water to fight some unknown creature in its own element. Hadn't he unlocked a Fisherman's Shield a while ago? He scrolled to the listing and opened it. +2 to fishing? No, that wouldn't be much help.

What about Hate Reaction? If it really was a giant alligator or something, he'd be able to hit it with a counter skill if it attacked. Naofumi nodded to himself, that was probably the most viable of his choices. He turned toward the nearest pool and paused.

There was a girl standing in it.

Specifically, there was a girl with dark blue skin, a pair of pearl-like eyes, a veil of icy-white hair that rippled as if caught in a silent current with a pair of long purple fins poking out where her ears should have been. As he stared at her, his HUD activated.

**Greater Undine, Lv. 113**

The girl raised a single hand and pointed it at him, fingers splayed wide. And he reflexively snapped his shield up as a glowing blue circle of magic burst into existence and a blast of water came shooting at him. He took the blast head on with his shield and grunted. It felt like half a dozen fire trucks were pointing their hoses straight at him, the sheer force of it nearly sweeping him off his feet as the ground grew slick with water.

The girl smirked, revealing a set of shark-like teeth as she drew back her second hand as if preparing to throw a punch. But then her head snapped to the side as a blue and black blur shot passed Naofumi. The stream of water cut off as the girl leapt upward and spun, diving downward and slipping beneath the surface of the pool.

Ren slid to a stop before the water's edge, sword held ready to strike at nothing.

"It's quick to run away." He scoffed.

"I noticed." Naofumi panted, massaging his left arm to try to drive away the ache. That had been jarring; his shield provided some cushion to heavy impacts, but not continuous blasts like that.

He'd need to remember that.

He turned, scanning the cavern for any sign of where the thing would pop up next. Suddenly, he saw what Ren had meant by the room's layout being suspicious. If all these pools were connected, then the monster could pop up anywhere. It appeared Ragna had decided to throw something tricky at them.

Well… lucky for them, being a Tricky Bastard was his specialty.

"Ren," he murmured "Next time it pops up, I'll stop its attacks and keep it from running. When I do, charge in and do your sword thing."

"Don't tell me what to do."

He shouldn't have bothered. It's not like Ren wouldn't have charged in headfirst like an idiot without prompting anyway.

There was a rush of water and they both spun to see the Undine rising up and, right on cue, Ren's blurred as he dashed straight for it. Naofumi rolled his eyes but threw out his arm as the Undine pointed a hand at the charging swordsman.

"Air Strike Shield!"

The barrier materialized between the two just as the blast of water came rushing out. He'd made it appear slanted so that it deflected the blast and gave a ramp for Ren to run up. The swordsman obliged, using it to leap into the air towards the monster.

The undine jumped up, turning in midair to dive back into the pool.

Naofumi smirked.

"Air Strike Shield."

Another barrier materialized _under_ the monster, neatly capping off the pool. The undine hit it face and bounced off. Naofumi grinned, relishing its stunned expression as Ren descended on it, his sword raised above his head like an executioner's axe.

"Thunder Sword!"

The strike went home, and the Undine shrieked as lightning crackled along its body. Ren raised his sword for another blow, but the Undine thrust out a writhing hand and a violent blast of water hit Ren point blank and sent him hurtling through the air.

"Feather Shield!" Naofumi shouted, catching the swordsman before he could hit the ground. He raised his shield toward the monster as it rose. The undine glared at him, a few sparks still leaping off its skin. It pointed a single finger downward and a thin jet of water blasted out, drilling into the barrier and shattering it.

The undine touched down into the water and slowly sank out of sight, not taking its eyes off Naofumi.

"…You alright?" Naofumi asked, glancing down at his water-logged companion.

"I've had my fill of getting thrown through the air. When is it your turn?" He groaned, spitting out a mouthful of water.

Well, if he was feeling well enough to complain, then he was probably fine. They'd definitely hurt the undine quite a bit with that, but they probably wouldn't get it the same way again. Naofumi frowned; normally when Raphtalia got close enough for a clean hit like that the fight _ended. _

There was a rush of water and Naofumi spun. "Whale Shield!" his weapon morphed into a wide, white disk with a golden spike rising from the center. He felt his feet grow heavy, as though they were glued to the ground just as the water struck. He could still feel the force behind it, but this time it didn't send him flying. He'd learned his lesson the first time. He hadn't unlocked all of this shield's skills yet, but he did have access to the passive Indomitable buff—as long as he took the attack head on, he couldn't be budged.

He stared over the edge of the shield, smirking into the undine's furious glare. Then the monster raised its other hand and he heard another rush of water coming from behind him. He had just enough time to turn his head before the water slammed into him, unsticking his feet from the floor and sending him rolling head over heels.

Right into one of the pools, he barely had time to gasp before the water closed over his head.

* * *

"Wait a moment." Raphtalia said in a hushed voice, holding out a hand as they approached the entrance to the next room.

"Why?" Kýla answered, matching her volume. "What is it?" After they'd wiped off as much of the spider guts as they could, they'd been making good time.

"Um…" Raphtalia hesitated, tilting her head to one side as her ear twitched. "I can hear something moving in there."

"What?" Kýla blinked. Right, the girl was a demi-human—they were supposed to have keener senses than normal people. She'd never worked with one before, and it was easier to forget about the pointed ears and fluffy tail than she would have thought. "Well. What of it?" Kýla shrugged. "We've had to fight something in the last couple rooms. No reason why this one would be different."

"I know that." Raphtalia nodded. "But I was thinking this time that we might want to take a different approach. I got poisoned in the spider room because we carelessly walked into the webs. I don't want to get caught in a trap again. We don't have much in the way of healing potions."

Kýla frowned, but couldn't disagree. She personally preferred to charge straight through and bulldoze whatever was in her way. But since they didn't know how much longer this dungeon was going to be, that strategy would likely be unwise. "Then what are you suggesting?" she eyed the twitching ears again. "Or rather, what are you hearing?"

"Oh. Um…" the demi-human closed her eyes. "I'm hearing… a rustling? Like something sliding along the floor?" she pursed her lip in concentration. "A snake? Maybe?"

"Hmm." Kýla pursed her lips. She didn't particularly like fighting snakes. It wasn't that she was scared of them, it was just that there weren't a lot of good places to punch one. What were you going to do, break their ribs? They had _hundreds_ of them. The only good place to hit one was the head, and that was the dangerous end. "Well then, Raph, what do you suggest?"

The girl's eyes snapped open. "Raph?" she asked, her face turning pink.

"Raphtalia is kind of a mouthful." Kýla shrugged, raising an eyebrow. She'd seen this girl slice giant spiders in half like it was nothing and now she was blushing at being given a nickname? How old was she anyway? "How do you suggest we do this? I'm a monk. We don't exactly go for subtle stuff. And the way I see it, we're going to have to through that door no matter what."

"Well," the demi-human hesitated, then gave her head a shake, as if to clear it. "I can cast illusion magic to turn myself invisible. But I'm not certain I can do it reliably for multiple people."

Hmph. She hadn't realized the girl was a mage as well. "Then. Why don't you hide yourself and follow me in. If there's only one giant snake. I'll keep it busy and you chop its head off."

Raphtalia smiled. "I'm good at decapitating things." With that, she drew her sword and concentrated, then she just sort… vanished.

Kýla blinked, alarmed at the suddenness of the disappearance. "Raph? Are you actually still there?" She reached out a hand and brushed something soft.

"Hey!" Raphtalia's voice squeaked right in her ear. "Don't pat my head, I'm not a kid!"

"Oh, uh sorry." Kýla pulled back her hand. "You just startled me." She cleared her throat, staring at the empty air. "Well… let's go in." She stepped through the doorway.

The room was almost completely empty. Faded grey stone made up the floors, walls, and ceiling, giving the room a somewhat claustrophobic feel. On the far side was yet another door, this one bright red. And standing right between them and the door, was a monster.

Well, Raphtalia was at least partially right. It was _mostly_ a snake. A long tail covered in copper-colored scales and thick as a tree coiled up on the stone floor. However, what has far more important was where one would expect a giant snake's mouth to be.

Instead of massive serpent's head, stretching out of the length of coils was a humanoid woman.

A naga.

The creature had long, dark hair trailing tied up in spikey locks that hung down to her waist. With tanned skin and deep green eyes, it could have passed as quite a looker it one kept their gaze above the belt, and if not for the fact that she sported four arms, each one clutching a long, curved sword. The woman half wore nothing more than a forming-fitting chainmail corset that left very little to the imagination.

Well, at least there was plenty of exposed skin for her to sink a fist into.

The naga rose in the air, her slitted eyes locked on Kyla's. The four blades waving almost hypnotically through the air as the monster smirked. A forked tongue shot out from between ruby lips and flicked the air.

Kýla clenched her hands into fists and raised them. "Well?" She said, staring the creature in the eye. "I haven't got all day."

The forked tongue lashed the air again and the dark green eyes narrowed. Suddenly it lashed out to the side with two of its blades. There was a startled yelp and Raphtalia popped into existence, scrambling away from the monster.

The naga grinned, revealing a pair of ivory-colored fangs, and began to slither forward, swords wheeling through the air with wicked promise.

* * *

Naofumi ducked behind his bunker of Air Strike Shields as another water blast came his way and groaned. This was going terribly. He'd been able to get himself out of the water using the Rope Shield, but his dip had left him soaked through. The water in his clothes making them feel like they'd been lined with lead.

And it didn't help that they weren't making much headway against the Undine. It was much more cautious about being able to escape, if one of them got close. Whenever he capped off one of the pools, it immediately focused its attention on breaking it.

Oddly enough, it was putting little effort into breaking the barriers he'd set up vertically around the room. Which gave them some shelter from the continuous blasts, but no sooner had he taken shelter from one direction than it found a new angle to attack. His SP reserves were starting to dwindle. He shifted his shield to the Soul Eater shield, for the weak SP regen, but its wouldn't be enough to last for much longer.

He'd fumbled through his soggy pockets for a potion while Ren slipped inside the Air Strike bunker beside him. He wasn't looking much better, in fact, with how much he hated water, the guy was probably enjoying this even less than he was.

Naofumi turned to glare at the undine, it was poking halfway out of a pool on the far side of the room. It was grinning at him, like he was some kind of circus act and it couldn't wait to see what he did next. Like it _knew_ that nothing he could do could touch it.

He ran through his options. He could try to trap it in a shield prison, but if they didn't have a way to follow through, then that would only make the thing angry. What if…

"Naofumi!"

"What?" he glared, but the swordsman wasn't looking at him. Instead, his gave was thoroughly on the floor.

"The water is rising."

"What?" he looked down and saw that Ren was right. There was at least an inch of water covering the floor. He furrowed his brow, thinking. _Where was it comin—the water blasts!_

Naofumi's eyes widened and his head snapped around to stare at the undine, which was casually launching several streams of water against the barriers. He'd thought it was just channeling water from the pools, but if it was actually creating _new _water. He glanced up at the ceiling. It might not be rising quickly, but if it _was_ rising, then they had a time limit.

If they didn't beat this thing soon, they'd be treading water, and then they'd be _really _screwed.

But what were they supposed to _do?_ He closed his eyes and concentrated. But the options seemed to be dwindling, it was like this whole battle had been _designed_ to be a bad match up for…them…

And that's because it had been.

It suddenly clicked in his mind. This place could only be entered by the Cardinal Heroes. The queen had sent them here not just to force them to cooperate, but to _test_ them. Naofumi had to grit his teeth to keep himself from snarling aloud.

Why did _everything _have to be such an uphill battle for him? Hadn't he proved himself by now? It was the other three who were useless! And now here he was, in danger of being drowned and he still had to carry one of the others as dead weight! It was…

Naofumi forced himself to take a breath, grabbing the frustration and forcing it down. It wouldn't help. He'd dealt with everything else; he would deal with this too.

It wasn't like he was out of options.

He could use the Curse Series. Just for a little bit. Fitoria's warnings about it flashed through his mind. But what choice did he have?

He'd just have to be careful. Raphtalia and Filo weren't here to snap him out of it if he lost himself. Not to mention... he glanced at Ren. If he used the curse series, no doubt that damned dragon would start yapping again. The last thing he needed was some undead lizard screaming inside his head to tear off Ren's leg and beat him to death with it.

The more he thought about it, the more appealing the idea seemed. It would just be for a moment, after all. And there would be no need to go as far as to use the Blood Sacrifice. Iron Maiden would suffice. Just one quick attack and boom. The Undine would be dead, Ren would shut up, and he could just drink a little elixir to recover from the fatigue.

"Ren." He said over his shoulder as he slipped out of the bunker. "Stay here."

"Why?" the swordsman demanded, immediately moving to join him. "What do you think you're going to do?"

"I'm going to stop messing around."

"…The black shield?" Ren said warily, pausing midstep.

Naofumi nodded.

He stepped forward and thrust out his arm toward the Undine. The elemental grinned eagerly, raising one of her hands to match his stance.

"Oh, having fun, are we?" Naofumi muttered, carefully undoing the chains he kept on his anger and allowing it to rise. "I'll give you something to laugh about. Shield Prison!"

Copper green shield and chains appeared around the Undine. He felt a vicious thrill as those pearly eyes went wide just before the chains restricted and crashed the shields together.

Time to end this.

He clutched his shield with both hands and willed it to transform to the Hellfire Shield. He could feel the anger, always so close beneath the surface, reaching up to enfold him in its embrace.

There was a sound like the peal of a bell in his ears. Then, as though someone had slung a cleaver through his brain, the connection cut off.

"What?" He gapped, feeling like he'd been slapped in the face with a wave of ice-cold water.

His HUD flashed; a warning screen popped up.

**Use of Curse Series Restricted. **

"_What!_" He tried again, his fury mounting to even greater heights. This place wouldn't even let him have _this_? But no matter how much he raged; no tendrils of inky black hate rose up to greet him.

"Naofumi?" Ren demanded. "What's wrong."

Naofumi let his arm fall to his side, letting the rage drain away and numbness set in. The shield prison was shaking and then, with a screech of twisting metal tore apart in a rush of water. The undine rose out of the whirling ball of water and glared at him.

He glared right back, trying to think what to do next and coming up blank. He could only watch as the monster swept its arms around and shaped the water around the room into a wave and sent it rushing straight towards him.

* * *

"How are there trees underground? That's so weird." Filo chirped, poking a shaggy-barked trunk with one finger.

"Well," Galdur answered. "This place is clearly magical in nature, so it's not that much of a surprise." He tapped a finger against his chin thoughtfully. They seemed to be in the middle of some kind of swamp, muddy ground and patches of still, muck-crusted water spread out before them and trees reached up toward the distant cavern ceiling visible through the branches. "But did\

this place construct them from nothing? Or did they grow here? No that's ridiculous. The amount of magical energy you would need to sustain such growth would be astronomical. Oh! Perhaps they were transported here temporarily as a kind of pocket dimension. Oh, the possibi—"

"Do you think there's any fruit up there?" Filo asked craning her neck back to stare up at the tree canopy. "Filo's going to check." The little girl crouched for a moment, then jumped, rocketing straight upward like an arrow. Galdur stared up incredulously as she caught one of the upper branches and vanished among the leaves. He sighed. None of his normal companions liked to discuss magical theory either.

How could it _not_ fascinate them? The power to bend reality to one's whim, and all Kyla cared about was if it could be used to punch things very hard… he shook his head again. Oh well, more mysteries of the cosmos to unravel left for him.

He moved over to another tree jutting out sideways from the murky water. Its bark looked smoother than the others, if he could just figure out what species of tree it was, he might be able to determine where they were from. If it _was _a linked pocket dimension, maybe he could figure out where the other side was linked to, maybe even find a way to step out of this place on the other side! Idly, he poked the bark and felt it give slightly beneath his finger, very much like wood _wasn't_ supposed to…

He squinted. Now that he was closer, this didn't really look like bark, it looked more like—

The tree moved slightly beneath his hand and Galdur went very still. Slowly, he tilted his head back, following the trunk with his eyes. As his gaze reached the canopy he locked eyes with a head the size of a filolial. Acid green eyes stared down at him, framed by a series of long pointy frills that looked, just a little—if someone had only spared them half a glance, like tree branches. A reptilian maw opened slightly, and a low, chilling hiss filled the air.

A swamp dragon.

Wordlessly, Galdur lifted his hand not touching the thing's scales and pointed it at the giant head.

And promptly launched a fireball at it.

The creature's head snapped backward, roaring as Galdur turned heel and ran. The dragon sounded more angry than hurt. But that had only been a pre-prepared spell—weak, but fast. If he wanted to actually hurt it, he'd need something bigger.

He pressed his hands together, dodging between a few tree trunks and chanting furiously. "Oh, countless falling stars, gather before me!" He could feel a rush of damp putrid air behind him, and he could just imagine turning around and staring down a wide-open maw— "Rewrite the laws on nature to form a—"

"FOOD!"

The shout broke his frantic concentration and he stumbled, then was knocked off his feet by a huge blast of wind. There was a roar, the sound of tearing flesh, and an enormous thud.

Galdur rolled over, trying desperately to regather the fragments of magical power he had lost, and shrieked. The monster's head was just behind him, jaws open wide and more terrible than he had imagined and…not moving.

"Boy Wizard Guy, are we lucky or what?"

He blinked up at the enormous white bird perched on the dragon's neck. "Finally, I get to eat, and it's a dragon!" She chirped happily, beaming down at him. "I take it back; this place is awesome!"

Galdur shivered, edging to one side so he would be out of line with that dark gullet. The dragon's neck lay on the ground like a felled tree, Filo had severed it clean through halfway down.

"You alright, wizard guy?"

"I'm fine." He squeaked. "I j-just need to…think." He sat down heavily.

"Mmm… okay! Then Filo's going to start eating."

Galdur hugged his knees, staring wordlessly at the severed stump of the dragon's neck as he tried to ignore the positively _gruesome_ sounds filling the air.

Had the world always been so full of monsters? He had never considered himself a coward—had he not faced the forces of the wave alongside Lord Ren as bravely as any? —but he'd also never wanted so very much to go _home._

It only took a few moments more moments of listening to Filo feast to decide what he really needed was something to do with his hands. The dragon's corpse was leaking a lot of blood, one could sell such things for a tidy sum if you knew who to ask. He climbed shakily to his feet and stumbled forward, reaching into one of the pouches clipped to his cloak for a vial. Finally finding one, he pulled it out and reached out to touch it against the severed stump.

The neck moved, ever so slightly.

Galdur felt his heart freeze.

The severed neck began to rise, arching back into the air and dripping blood all over him.

"…Filo?" he called, his voice sounding brittle in his ears. He couldn't bring himself to wrench his eyes away as the bleeding slowed. The wound began to bubble as more dark green scales grew over the wound, then swelled outward in two separate directions.

"Oh." He said brightly, feeling his lips peeling back into a manic grimace. "_Not_ a swamp dragon then." The growths began to elongate, and he saw two pairs of acid green eyes open, pinning him beneath their twin gaze.

"A hydra."

S&DS&DS&DS&D

**Whew. That's another chapter done. **

**I actually wrote Filo's scene first because she's super easy for me to write. Naofumi's kind of hard and I outright struggle with Raphtalia. I need someone silly to keep the dialogue flowing. But after the revisions, I'm pretty happy with how these came out.**

**What about you readers? I'd be thrilled to hear your thoughts. **


	5. Triple Victory

**Hello. Long chapter this time. That's what happens when you've got three separate plotlines going on simultaneously, I suppose.**

**Chapter 5: Triple Victory**

S&DS&DS&DS&D

Worst. Boss Fight. Ever.

Ren cursed to himself as he leapt over the crest of another wave. He splashed back down into the standing water and scowled as he felt it seeping into his boots.

This wasn't one of those boss fights that were a difficult but thrilling challenge. Where the boss killed you over and over again, but is such a cool badass about it you couldn't help but respect it. It was just one of those boring tedious ones, where it is only difficult because of stupid bullshit.

First and foremost was all the damn water.

He hated water, and it was _everywhere._ Seeping into his boots, slowing him down, and threatening to drown him if fell into one of the deep pools. Then there was the monster, who would just run away if he managed to get close, and he didn't have any ranged attacks, and it was just all stupid bullshit!

And to top it all off, Mr. You're-all-useless-and-I'm-such-a-Big-Shot Shield Hero wasn't helping. After he'd failed to use that black shield of his a few minutes ago, he'd sort of shut down. He was just crouching behind his barriers, glaring at the monster and not doing _anything_!

"Naofumi, are you going to help or not?" Ren demanded.

"Shut up!" Naofumi snarled. "I'm trying to think."

"Don't strain yourself."

Naofumi shot him a glare but said nothing. The guy looked exhausted, the bags under his eyes looking bigger than ever, but what did he have to be tired about? He wasn't the one who had to do all the running and jumping around to avoid the blasts of water. All he had to do was throw up those floating barriers whenever he wanted and stand still.

And then, even if he got hit, his bullshit defense he could just shrug off the damage. It was ridiculous. Ren's ribs were _still_ aching from the first water blast he'd taken head on.

Ren shook head as another stream of water crashed into the barrier. This train of thought was unhelpful. He glared at the Undine impotently. The monster was cheerfully firing blast after blast of water at the layer of barriers. The shields showed no sign of breaking from the assault, but Ren swore he could _feel_ the water level rising.

They needed to end this. _Soon._

"We need to block off its escape." Ren said.

"Wow. I wish _I'd_ thought of that." Naofumi snapped. "Oh, wait. I _did._ That was _literally_ the first thing we tried. Then you couldn't follow through and finish it. Now it's being more careful."

"At least I've actually dealt it some damage!"

"Only because I held your hand the whole way!" Naofumi sneered.

Ren grit his teeth. He didn't want to let that pass, but the water was rising, and he wanted _out._ The only way that was going to happen was if he cooperated with this jackass. "So hold my hand again and help me finish this." He snapped. "What can we do?"

"I don't know, why don't you shut up for two seconds and let me think? Or better yet, use your own three and a half brain cells and come up with your own damn plan."

Ren rolled his eyes and tore his gaze away from the Asshole of the Shield and glared across the chamber. The undine had stopped attacking for the moment and was looking back and forth between them as though they were the funniest thing it had ever seen.

When it caught him looking, it waved at him and sent of stream of water jetting into the barrier in front of his face.

Ren recoiled, snarling. He forced himself to forget about Naofumi for the moment. He _needed_ this thing to die.

The problem was that he didn't have much to work. Sure, he had buffed the crap out of his sword using whatever rare material he could get his hands on, but that didn't change the fact that almost all of his skills revolved around getting really close and sticking the pointy end in the monster. His ranged skills were too limited He didn't have Naofumi's stupidly diverse bag of tricks or OP damaging skills.

But regardless, there had to be a way to win this. He refused to accept that he'd been sucked into the world with a such a simple game-breaking bug as an unwinnable fight.

So, they couldn't cut off the undine's ability to escape. Naofumi would have done it by now if he had such a skill. Could they increase his own speed somehow so he could reach the monster? If he threw everything into his dash skill, he _might_ be able to reach it before it got too far under the water.

But if he screwed that up, he'd crash into the pool, and then no doubt the thing would drag him under like it had tried to do to Naofumi, and he'd drown.

Maybe set up a trap to catch it when it came up to attack? Ren frowned. He liked the idea, but there were dozens of pools, it would just be random chance about which one it would pop out of.

"Can we do something to the water?" Ren asked, more to throw the idea out there than anything else. "Make it so that going in hurts it?"

"Like what? Cause an oil spill?" Naofumi snorted. "Sorry, I don't carry barrels of oil in my shield. Only…" Naofumi trailed off, suddenly looking thoughtful.

"What?" Ren demanded. "Do you have an idea?"

Naofumi nodded slowly, some of the tiredness in his eyes leaving as his mind engaged. "Yes, actually. I think I do." There was a flash of light and his shield transformed into a circle of brown wicker. He tapped it, causing a section of it to unfold and he stuffed his arm inside and began rooting around.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for something." Naofumi muttered, scowling. "I know I put them in here somewhere, they've probably all fallen to the bottom…ah." He withdrew his arm, pulling out a brown sack.

"And that is?" Ren asked through gritted teeth. Did Naofumi have to be so infuriatingly cagey about everything? Instead of answering, Naofumi held out the sack. Ren took it and peeked inside. It took a moment for him to realize what he was looking at.

"…Really?" he sighed.

"You got a better idea?"

"…"

"That's what I thought."

* * *

"Filo! Stop!" Galdur yelled, as the bird charged at the roiling mass of serpentine heads. But the filolial didn't break stride, leaping around the snapping jaws and ripping straight through the necks of the hydra.

Galdur dragged his hands down his face in frustration. Didn't the stupid bird realize how futile that was? That hadn't killed it the last three times she tried; it wouldn't kill it now! She was only making it worse!

Admittedly, the fact that she had to cut off dozens of heads at once instead of just one didn't seem to be slowing her down much. The enormous bird was zipping through the snapping jaws like a maelstrom, dodging fangs and slicing scales while screeching bloody murder. Between the constant beheading and no doubt disorientating regeneration, the hydra clearly couldn't coordinate itself well enough to keep up with Filo's fury.

But that didn't matter! If she kept this up, they soon wouldn't be any room for her to move between the hydra's heads. Then all it would take was just one of the heads getting a grip on her, slowing her down for just a moment, and the others would descend and rip her to pieces like a pack of Dire Piranhas.

And then they'd come for him.

He wracked his brain desperately for every scrap of info he'd ever read about hydras. It hadn't been much, they were very rare monsters, and the generally accepted approach when something one encroached on a city or town was to relocate. Did they have a limit to how many times they could regenerate? Not that he could recall—although he couldn't help but feel that lack of information stemmed from the fact that nobody was stupid enough to keep cutting off heads after the first a time!

He shook his head. Not _helping._ Could the regeneration be stopped?

His head snapped up as he remembered. Fire! By all accounts if you burned the stump after cutting off a head, it wouldn't grow back.

He was a mage! He could do fire!

"Filo!" he called, excitement rising. "Come over her for a moment! I know how to kill it!" If he could enchant her claws with fire, then the beast would fall.

Filo let out a furious squawk and threw herself back at the writhing mass of scales and teeth, redoubling her efforts to tear it apart.

"Filo! Please. I mean it!" he yelled, cringing at how pitiful he sounded. "If you don't come over here. You'll die!"

He might as well have been shouting at a boulder, for all the difference it made. Well, that wasn't completely true. A pair of acid green eyes on the edge of the fight turned to peer at him with reptilian malice.

"…erm." Galdur took a step back as one of the heads detached itself from the fray and began to nose its way towards him. "Filo!" he called desperately, but she was beyond reason. The bird girl was tearing through the lizard like a berserker, a head in each talon and her beak tearing through a third's throat.

He was on his own.

His eyes narrowed, frustration growing. This was just like what happened with Kýla and the others. _Nobody _wanted to listen to the wizard. Who cares if he'd spent a decade studying arcane arts? He was just a silly man that had fainted once because a _highly-venomous _Orb Spider had leapt at him out of nowhere.

Well, he _wasn't_ helpless.

He took several steps back and glared at the approaching head. It might be long enough to reach him, but it kept getting jerked back by the tumbling fight behind it. In other words, it was a slow-moving target.

He raised his hand.

"Oh roaring flames of the forge." He began, the hydra's head drew closer, mouth opening to reveal fangs longer than his arms. "I command you to rewrite the laws of nature to temper yourselves into a blade of burning fury to cleave my enemy in twain."

The head loomed over him, ready to bite him in half.

Galdur's eyes narrowed.

"Flame Blade."

A magic circle burst into life in front of him just as the hydra lunged, there a flash of light and a rush of hot air, followed by a violent sizzling noise. Galdur blinked away the spots in his eyes and glared. He could see the hilt of enormous sword jutting out behind the head, pinning the neck to the ground and glowing white-hot.

The neck shook, then slumped to the ground. The reptilian head rolled away as the blade of fire vanished, leaving behind a charred stump.

Galdur adjusted his hat with a huff. The rest of the hydra hadn't reacted to the death of one of its head's. There had to be almost twenty grasping jaws now and Filo showed no signs of switching her tactics. If this fight was to be won, it would be up to him.

He placed his hands together and began to chant.

"Oh countless falling stars…"

* * *

Raphtalia's ears rung with the sound of metal on metal as she locked her blade against one of the naga's curved sabers. Before she could try to counterattack, she was forced to backpedal as one of the monster's free blades came whistling towards her face. Kýla wasn't faring much better, the monster's blades were keeping the martial artist at bay with equal ease.

She'd faced down monsters and demons of every shape and size before. Some of them had carried weapons, but they'd always been clumsy creatures; mindless beasts that swung wildly and tried to crush her with brute force. She learned to fight them, how to avoid their lumbering swings or leaping claws and how to cut them down. It was usually quite easy; they had never shown any inclination to defend themselves.

She'd never had fought one like this.

Not having Master Naofumi was bad enough; his absence meant there was nobody to draw the monster's attention and the focus Raphtalia had to put in to defending herself was throwing her off balance. But worse than that, was an awful realization that was stealing over her as the fight dragged on.

This monster was more skilled than she was.

It felt like… like she was fighting Éclaire. Whenever she'd sparred with the swordswoman during training, it felt like this. Despite her higher stats and level, the woman's skill always left her feeling like a clumsy novice.

The naga handled its blades with that same easy grace. Fending off her attacks and nearly cutting through her attempts to defend herself with an almost contemptuous ease.

She could feel panic rising in her chest as the naga slithered towards her. Raphtalia clutched the hilt of her blade tighter and tried to force herself to calm down. The fear continued claw through her though, and her heartbeat was thundering in her ears louder than even the sounds of clashing steel. Raphtalia bit the inside of her cheek so hard her mouth filled with the taste of copper. The sudden pain brought focus.

This monster was stronger than her.

So _what?_

Master Naofumi had to fight things that were stronger than him all the time. Did he ever give up?

This monster was more skilled than her. In a straight fight it would best her. So, she needed to be like Naofumi.

And not fight fair.

She pushed herself away from the naga and used her spin to create some distance.. Sliding her hand into her pocket she withdrew the hilt of her mana blade. She held it against the hilt of her normal blade and clutched them with both hands as though she were grasping a single sword.

The monster had her on the defensive, but she was Master Naofumi's sword, and swords weren't meant to defend oneself, they were meant to _attack._

She launched herself forward, bringing blade down with both hands in an obvious overhand arc. The naga whipped one its swords around and neatly blocked the strike, the hand holding her blade stopped dead.

Raphtalia wrapped on hand around the hilt of the mana blade and pressed forward even as the naga's second blade came slicing toward her chest. She whipped down the hilt of her metal blade to deflect it and swung the mana blade down. It phased through the upraised blade and sliced through the naga's arm and partway through its lower torso.

The naga shrieked, lurching backward with a startled hiss. There was a clatter as its sword dropped from its suddenly limp hand.

She could see Naofumi's smirk of approval in her mind and she lunged, ready to pierce the monster's body and finish the job. The naga whipped its body around and its tail slammed into her side.

It was like being hit by a tree. Pain blossomed in her ribs and the breath rushed out of her lungs as she went flying. Scrambling to keep herself mobile, she hit the ground hard and rolled. Gritting her teeth against the pain she forced herself upright. She tried to take in a breath, but her lungs weren't cooperating. That blow must have winded her.

She looked up and saw that the naga was rushing towards her, the murder in its eyes making it look much more like the other monsters she had faced. Raphtalia raised her blade, and desperately searched for a strategy. One of the monster's arms was still hanging uselessly, but the other three still clutched their blades. Would she be able to block three at once?

Then she saw Kýla, forgotten in the naga's fury, leap into the air. The martial artist landed a flying kick against the monster's upper back and sent it tumbling forward. The naga's arms flailed as it tried to regain its balance.

Now was her chance.

Raphtalia fought through the pain in her stomach and threw herself forward. The naga brought two of its blades up to try to stop her, but the action was clumsy. She knocked one of them aside and twisted so the other would glance off her shoulder.

They crashed into each other and Raphtalia ran the monster through with her sword, sinking the blade up to the hilt under the monster's weight.

Raphtalia smirked into the naga's face, inches from her own, as its eyes went wide. It jerked slightly, but she was too close for it to strike her with its swords.

They'd won.

The naga's eyes flickered and its mouth opened slightly. Raphtalia had just enough time to glimpse a pair of pointed fangs before the monster whipped its head forward and buried them in her neck.

* * *

"Die, dragons, DIE_!_" Filo screeched gleefully.

She was surrounded by dragons, meaty, _delicious_ dragons. But they were all trying to eat Filo, and no matter how many she tore apart there always seemed to be more.

How was she supposed to eat the dead dragons while there were still living ones to kill?

It was so_ rude!_

She caught a glimpse of movement overhead and dived downward as another pair of jaws snapped at the air where she'd been. Where were all these stupid dragons coming from? She beat her wings furiously and stirred up a tempest, using the wind to blast the dragons away.

It didn't send them very far, but it gave Filo a breather and she felt her anger ebb just a little bit at the distance. She was maybe starting to feel just the teeniest bit tired. Not that she wouldn't win, of course! It's just, there were so_ many _of them. Just the sight of them all ignited a fire in her belly and she felt her anger rising up again.

She crouched, willing the winds to gather around her talons to form longer claws. She'd finish this in one more charge, she'd tear _all _their heads of in _one_ go! Then the fight would be over and she could eat!

She launched herself forward, just as the sky turned red.

She felt a burst of heat overhead and she whipped her head back to see a giant flaming rock hurtling straight towards her!

Filo squawked, losing control over the wind and flapped her wings desperately to change direction. The giant rock hit missed her by inches and crashed into the writhing mass of dragons, which all hissed and recoiled. It fell back into one of the swampy pools of yucky water that was all around and sending up great big clouds of steam.

Filo blinked.

What the heck had that been? Was there _another_ dragon in here?

She craned her neck around to look, but she didn't see any big ugly mass of scales in need of killing. There was only wizard guy. She peered at him curiously, he looked kind of winded. She hopped over to him.

"Hey wizard guy, are you alright?"

"Filo, you've calmed down! Thanks goodness." The man sighed. "I apologize for almost hitting you with my Meteor spell, but when you blew them back, I thought it would be the best opportunity to strike.

"Meteowhatsits?" Filo blinked.

"Er, the giant flaming rock?"

"That was _you_?"

He nodded. "It's one of my strongest spells." He hesitated as she stared at him. "I _am_ a wizard, after all." He added, a little indignantly.

"Well, whydjya do it?" Filo flapped her wings in annoyance, "You singed Filo's feathers!"

"Oh, I, uh, do apologize." The wizard guy answered. "But I had to. If I had done nothing, you would have been defeated."

"Nu'_uh_!" Filo puffed up her feathers. "Filo won't get beaten by a dumb dragon. She was just about to win when you got in her way." She raked a set of claws through the air. "She was gonna cut off all the dragon's heads in one go!"

"That's why I stopped you!" Wizard guy threw up his hands in exactly the same way Master did sometimes when he was feeling cranky. "It's not a dragon, it's a hydra. If you cut off its head, it grows two more." He added quickly, as she was opening her beak to ask.

"…" Filo tilted her head to one side. "Is that why there were so many dragons?"

"Yes." Wizard guy nodded frantically. "If you had cut off all the heads, you would have made the problem twice as bad!"

"Then… How is Filo supposed to kill it?"

"That's where I can help you." The wizard smiled, adjusting his hat proudly. "Fire stops the regeneration."

"Oh. Okay." Filo turned around. The hydragon was pulling itself out of the water, a bunch of heads all hissing with menace. But Filo could see several of them that looked all burned and two them were just blackened stumps being dragged along the ground.

Filo sighed. She couldn't do fire. Which meant she couldn't kill the dragon. That was _so_ unfair.

"Well, there it is wizard guy." She said glumly, gesturing with a wing. "Just hit it with more of your meaty ores and Filo will…sit here and watch."

Wizard guy made a funny little noise, "I can't just throw Meteor around multiple times!" he spluttered. "But, but I _can _enchant your claws with fire and then you could kill it!"

"Oh," Filo perked up. That meant she'd still get to be the one to kill the dragon! "Okay! Fire Filo up, wizard guy! Better hurry. It's getting closer."

"Er, yes." Wizard guy stuck out his hands. "Oh, fires of the deepest places, I command you to rewrite the laws of nature and bless us with your molten fury. Lava Touch!" wisps of red light left his fingers and wrapped around Filo's legs.

Her talons turned all black and orangey, and she could see smoke began to rise from them, but it didn't hurt. She scratched at the ground experimentally and blinked when some plants immediately caught fire.

Filo turned back toward the encroaching wall of scales and fang.

She stuck out her tongue and licked her beak.

She'd always wanted to try dragon barbeque.

* * *

"Shield Prison!"

The undine's body blurred as it dove forward, just clearing the gap between the green shields before the chains rattled and pulled them tight behind it.

The undine rolled upright and thrust both hands at Naofumi, sending a violent jet of water blasting his way.

"Air Strike Shield!" He yelled, causing the barrier to materialize directly in front of the monster. The point-blank blast of water shattered the barrier in moments, but it sent a cloud of spray back in the undine's face. It responded by immediately diving into a pool, sending a jet of water in front of it in case he tried to block its escape again.

"That's right." Naofumi muttered. "Play it safe. I'm a sneaky son of a bitch, keep your eyes on me or I'll getchya." That would give Ren time to do his part. He didn't need to visit all the pools, just most of them.

A brown sack splashed into the water in front of him.

"Done." Ren said.

"That was fast."

"I'm fast."

Naofumi spun, catching sight of the undine rising from a far pool. It was raising a hand to point at her. He raised his shield meaningfully in response. The undine hesitated, then swept both its hands forward, wiping the water around her into a giant wave that nearly reached the ceiling and sent it hurtling forward. As wave crashed through the room, Naofumi could see inky tendrils of dark color swirling through it, spreading through the water, turning it ruby red.

"Don't let it get in your eyes." He was running low on SP, and an Air Strike Shield wouldn't block an attack like that. He raised his shield over his head and shifted it into the Whale Shield. He felt his feet glue themselves to the ground as he did his best to cover his face. Ren leapt into the air, his feet hit the shield and he used it to summersault over the wave as it crashed down.

He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his face against the shield as water swirled around him, filling his nose with a heady scent of fruit. The water pressed against him, threatening to sweep him away, but the Whale Shield did its job and kept him standing until the water had passed.

Naofumi opened his eyes, the red water had stained his clothes, but he appeared unhurt. He lowered the shield and searched for the undine. With the wave's passing, all the water in the chamber had taken on the ruby color. He spotted the monster floating where it had before, staring at the ground in apparent befuddlement at the change of color.

_Don't give it time to figure it out. _

"Liquid Metal King Shield." Naofumi said, throwing out his arm toward the undine and drawing on his last reserves of SP. "Balloon Party!"

There was a series of pops and several colored balls burst into existence above the undine. The balls hinged open, revealing jagged teeth and eagerly clamped on to anything they could, one managing to envelop its head completely. The undine jerked to the back, and the panic in its flailing was balm to Naofumi's soul.

Balloons wouldn't so much as scratch something as high level as the undine. But that didn't matter. The undine leapt upward, trying to throw off the swarm of balloons and dove headfirst into the one of the pools.

"Gotcha." Naofumi smirked tiredly.

"Why did you even have a sack of Rukor fruit, anyway?" Ren asked. The swordsman had managed to dodge the wave, only his boots showing any sign of being stained red.

"After how useful they were in the last wave, it seemed like a good idea." Naofumi shrugged. "You ready for your part?"

"Obviously."

There was a splash of water and the Undine rose out of a short distance away, it was facing the wrong direction and one of the balloons was still clinging to its shoulder. The undine was swaying, grinding its fists into its eyes as though something was stinging them—almost like it had gotten a face full of high-proof alcohol.

Ren took off immediately, charging through the water with sword raised.

The undine spun as he leapt, yanking a hand away from its face and thrusting it in Ren's general direction, firing a blast of water that went wide of the mark.

"Thunder Sword!" Ren screamed, slamming the sword point-first through the monster's body. Lightning crackled as they both crashed into the booze filling the chamber. The undine shrieked, writhing as electricity ran through its body.

Then it fell silent and broke apart, disintegrating into a cloud of vapor.

Somewhere, a bell chimed.

"_Congratulations Heroes." _Ragna's voice filled the chamber._ "Mini-boss defeated. Opening door to room of reprieve." _

There was a grinding noise, and the liquid began to drain from the room as Ren climbed to his feet. Across the hall, there was a click and the metal door embedded in the wall swung open.

Naofumi's shoulders slumped as he let out a sigh of relief.

They'd won. _Hurray._

He began trudging toward the exit, not bothering to see if Ren was following and grimacing as his boots squished beneath his feet. He wondered how annoying it would be to get the stains out of his armor.

All he wanted was to find a place to sit, chug an elixir, and dry off. Preferably away from this room. There were still puddles of booze all over the room and the fruity scent filling the air was giving him a headache.

He stepped through the doorway and breathed a sigh of relief. There was absolutely no water to be seen. Just a wide circular room, well-lit by magic lamps with nothing rushing forward to attack him. The only thing in the room was a solitary dais in the center with a bright blue chest resting on it.

"_Boss loot_!" Naofumi blinked tiredly as something zipped passed him. Making it to the chest before Naofumi had even made it halfway.

"Careful," Naofumi yawned, idly lifting his cloak ad attempting to wring out some of the booze. "It could be trapped."

"Don't be ridiculous." Ren scoffed, reaching for the latch. "We just defeated a mini-boss. Ragna said so. The boss chests are the only ones that are never trapped."

Naofumi was in no mood to argue about it. He tensed as Ren threw open the chest and stuck his hand inside. But after a long moment where the chest failed to eat him or something, Naofumi relaxed.

"Are you kidding me?" Ren growled. "A comb?" he held up something pink and stared at it. He waved his hand to open his menu screen and squinted at it. He scowled. "It doesn't even provide any buffs." He shook his head. "All that," he said, his words dripping with disgust, "and they only give us loot that's meant to be sold." He tossed the accessory carelessly over his shoulder.

"Hey, we don't know if that's true." Naofumi said, bending over to pick up the comb. It was an elegant thing, carvel from what appeared to be a piece of pink coral, but a quick look at the stat screen confirmed Ren's statement. No magical properties or buffs to speak of.

Still, that didn't mean he couldn't do something with it.

He held the comb to his shield and prepared to absorb it.

"This whole trip is a disaster." Ren said bitterly, glaring at the insides of the chest. "I need to grow stronger. But it's clear that this place _can't_ help me."

Naofumi hesitated, glancing at swordsman. There was a… frustration in his voice that Naofumi knew all too well. Through the haze of exhaustion, he felt a spike of indignation.

What did _Ren_ know about not receiving help? The whole kingdom had spent the entirety of his stay here coddling him, gladly wiping his ass for him at every opportunity and pulling out the sandpaper when it was Naofumi's turn!

But… Ren was at least putting in _some_ effort. Not _tons_, but some_._ At the very least, he'd made himself useful in that last fight. Naofumi knew he wouldn't have been able to beat the undine alone, not without the curse series. Not to mention the guy had saved him from that spike trap at the start.

Naofumi glanced at the comb and then back at Ren, who angrily slammed the chest shut.

…_Goddamn it. I owe him._

"Ren."

"Forget it," Ren answered stepping around the chest and moving off. "Let's just keep going. If that was the mini-boss, then we're halfway done. With luck, we can be done in a few hours and I can move on to doing something _actually_ useful."

"No, Ren. Wait just a sec. I wanna talk to you about something."

"Naofumi." Ren sighed. "I'm not in the mood be lectured. Let's just dry off and keep moving."

"I'm not trying to lecture you," Naofumi snapped, trying to rein in his rising temper. He'd already decided what he wanted to do. If he changed his mind now, just because Ren was being a whiny dick, then he'd just like the other heroes; giving up the moment something became unpleasant. "There's something I want to tell you."

"I'm not interested in talking!"

"Really?" Naofumi answered mildly. "Not even if it was about me telling you the secret of how my shield got so strong?"

S&DS&DS&DS&D

**Whew. That was certainly a thing I wrote. Lots of stuff going on. **

**I'm pretty happy with how it came out. But man, Raphtalia is hard for me to write. Without Filo or Naofumi to bounce her off of, I really struggle with her. **

**But still, I got it done. **

**I'd love to hear what you thought. Was it all good? Were any of the fights kind of lame? Let me know.**


	6. Lessons and Loot

**And here we are for another chapter. Yay. **

**Chapter 6: Lessons and Loot **

S&DS&DS&DS&D

"Can you walk less bumpy?"

"I can try, Miss Filo." Galdur sighed, shifting the girl so she was more secure on his back as he picked his way through the mess of swampy water and floating bits of charred hydra. If someone had told him a week ago that he'd be giving a piggy-back ride to a filolial queen…

"You know, we _are_ in the middle of a dungeon." He said, turning his head to look the tiny girl in the eye. "It's not exactly an ideal place to take a nap."

Filo yawned in his face. "Filo just had a big fight, and now her belly is full. She's sleepy."

"I can see that." Galdur said flatly, turning his head forward with a sigh. Well, she _had_ been doing most of the work so far. He started moving forward again, doing his best not to move quite so bumpy.

* * *

Ren watched as Naofumi yanked the stopper out of a bottle of elixir, threw back his head and chugged the contents.

"Man," the shield hero gasped with relief, wiping his mouth. "That's so much better." He held out his hand and summoned several Air Strike Shields. He peeled off his cloak and outer layers of armor, draping them over one of the shields as he sat down on another with a contented sigh. "Heat Shield." His shield morphed into a black iron spiral and began to glow as it radiated warmth.

"What are you doing?" Ren demanded.

"What does it look like? Drying my clothes. Here, hang up your armor too."

"Are you going to tell me the secret of your shield or not?"

"I am." Naofumi nodded. "But there's no reason to stand around in sopping wet clothes while we talk. That's how you get sick." Ren opened his mouth to protest but Naofumi shot him a flat look.

Well… his boots _were_ still squishing every time he took a step. Whatever they had to face next, it would be best to rest a bit before facing it. Ren stripped off his cloak and boots and took a seat on another shield Naofumi had summoned.

"Alright. Now spill." Ren said.

Naofumi rolled his eyes. "I want to get one thing out of the way first." He leaned forward and looked Ren in the eye. "I give you my word that everything I'm about to tell you is true. I'm not trying to trick you or lie to you." His expression soured. "I cannot _stand_ people who lie. So, I want you to promise not to waste our time by calling me a liar or declaring that what I'm saying is impossible, or whatever."

"I'm not a child, Naofumi." Ren snorted.

The unconvinced look Naofumi gave him set Ren's blood boiling, but he forced himself to take a deep breath. On the off chance that Naofumi wasn't trying to bullshit him, then it might mean he could use the information to grow even stronger and catch up with the Shield's OP abilities.

"I promise." he said, through carefully ungritted teeth, "to listen to what you have to say."

"Mmm… it'll have to do." Naofumi sighed. "Alright, so. Do you remember back in the castle, when the queen had the four us sit down and talk about how our weapons work? How the three of you said different things and started arguing so I got pissed off and left?"

Ren nodded. That meeting had been a colossal waste of time. Motoyasu and Itsuki had messed the whole thing up by spouting bullshit about how to power up their weapons. It was written out _very clearly_ in his sword's world guide; to strengthen a cardinal weapon, fight powerful enemies and raise its proficiency.

"Well," Naofumi said went on. "It turns out none of you were lying."

"That's ridiculous!"

Naofumi raised an eyebrow at him and Ren shut his mouth with a suppressed growl.

"No, actually, it's not." Naofumi went on patiently. "I admit, I thought the three of you were messing with me. That's why I stormed off. But a little later, after I'd cooled off, I got to thinking. All three of you seemed really convinced that you were right. So, I decided to try your methods. I went to a blacksmith friend of mine and tried copying some shields. And it worked, and _then_, I was able to see stats on the weapon's rarity, proficiency, and refinement. You know, the thing all three of you were talking about_._"

Naofumi leaned forward, his eyes serious. "That's the secret about the Cardinal Weapons, Ren. There are multiple ways to power up them up, and they all work separately. Or at least," he shrugged. "They did for my shield. I see no reason why your weapons would work any different."

"But there's nothing about it in my weapon's guide." Ren said incredulously. Did Naofumi _really_ expect him to believe this? A game guide was meant to hold all the basic details of a how the game functioned.

"There wasn't anything about the other methods in mine either." Naofumi nodded. "As I said, it wasn't until after I tried your methods and they worked that the information appeared."

That was _ridiculous._ But if it was true… well, it was incredibly poor game design. It meant a single player was bound to miss out on who-knows-how-much of the game's content.

But if it _was _true…

"And…what method did you discover to empower your shield?"

"Good." Naofumi nodded approvingly. "You're actually thinking about what I'm saying." He turned the shield toward Ren, sending a rather pleasant wave of warmth over him. "The way I've been strengthening my shield is by unlocking new forms when It consumes certain objects or the remains of enemies."

"What? Like Kirby?"

Naofumi blinked. "…Sure, if that's how you want to think about it." He said thoughtfully. "Anyway, each shield I unlock comes with its own unique abilities and properties that I can access when using them. But each one also gives me a permanent stat buff that applies to all my shields."

If that was true, then it was no wonder he's been able to keep up with our stats despite his lower level. "What about the black shield?"

Naofumi grunted and looked down, as though he'd been expecting this but had been hoping to avoid it. "…The black shield?"

Ren's eyes narrowed. "You know exactly which one I'm talking about, Naofumi. The black shield that releases the flames when you're hit. You used it to one-shot the pope. What did you consume to unlock that shield?"

Naofumi didn't meet his gaze. "That one…" he said slowly. "is different."

"Is that so?' Ren scoffed.

"Oh, don't you get all huffy with me." Naofumi snapped, raising his head and glaring. "It _is._ There were a bunch of things that went into unlocking that and, to be honest, I'm not one-hundred percent sure what they all were."

"So…you're still going to keep secrets from me."

Naofumi's mouth fell open and he starred at Ren in disbelief. "I've just told you," he said slowly, one eye twitching. "How you can go about _quadrupling_ your stat gains. Are you seriously about to start bitching about the_ one_ thing I can't really tell you?"

Ren looked away. He could tell that Naofumi was going dig in his heels about this. But that was fine. What had he called the black shield? The curse series? Ren could find out about it on his own. There had been cardinal heroes before them, no doubt some of them had unlocked it. There had to be some record of it somewhere, he'd just need to get Galdur to do some research for him.

"Alright." Ren nodded, letting the matter drop. "Do you have anything I can feed my sword to prove your words?"

"Only this." Naofumi held up the coral comb they'd found in the boss chest.

"That?" Ren scoffed. "What kind of sword is _that_ supposed to give me? One that makes my hair pretty?"

Naofumi shrugged. "I don't know, there was only one and I'm not feeding it to my shield so you can use it. But I'd bet it will unlock something. As you said, it's boss loot. And what it unlocks might surprise you."

"I doubt that." Ren snorted.

"Oh yeah?" Naofumi raised an eyebrow. "You know my Air Strike Shield?" he gestured to the barriers they were sitting on. "Wanna guess what I had to feed my shield to unlock that skill?"

Ren frowned, "I'm guessing some kind of high defense monster. An Armor Lizard?"

"Nope. It was a piece of rope."

"…A rope?"

"Literally just a rope." Naofumi nodded. "I found it in a shed and it gave me access to what is honestly the most handy skill ever."

Ren stared at Naofumi, either he had a world-class poker face, or he was telling the truth. "What about that shield prison skill of yours?"

"A pipe."

"You've got to be joking."

"Yes," Naofumi rolled his eyes. "Because I'm known throughout the kingdom for my fantastic sense of humor."

Ren was still for a moment, then reached out and took the comb with one hand while drawing his sword with the other. "So… how does this work?"

Naofumi leaned back looking oddly relieved. "Hold it near the jewel on your sword and try to… scan it?" He shrugged. "I first unlocked this method by trying to get my shield to tell me about the world, it wasn't like anybody else was going to tell me anything. Just try to make your sword tell you more about what the comb is." He fell silent for a moment, then added. "Oh, and you've got to genuinely believe that it's going to work. I found that one out when I tried your methods of enhancing my shield. So if you're just going through the motions to humor me or something, it's not going to work."

Ren held the comb as instructed and concentrated. He wasn't sure if he trusted Naofumi. The guy might be strong, but he was arrogant and violent. He could still remember the manic gleam in his eye as he had demanded that Trash and Bitch be executed. Did he want to put his faith in someone who would do that?

No. He didn't think he could. But at the very least he didn't think that Naofumi would waste his time talking about this if it was a lie. The guy truly didn't seem the kind to play practical jokes, and there wasn't an audience to witness him making a fool of himself if it was.

So… he guessed that meant, in this at least, he believed Naofumi.

The jewel imbedded above his sword's hilt glowed and the comb was sucked out of his hand. His sword flashed and he felt it shift under his grip. The blade turned blue and the tip curled backward and shifted from blue to white, making it look like a cresting wave.

Ren blinked as his menu screen popped up. The square filled with hundreds of circles with a question mark inside. Suddenly the screen zoomed in on one of the them and the question mark was replaced by a picture of a comb.

**Sea Sworn Sword Unlocked.**

**Active Effects: Water Walking, +30% damage while standing on water.**

** Active Skill: Jet Stream —Launch of stream of water from the tip of your sword. Jet Stream's effectiveness is buffed by 200% while standing on water. **

** Passive Effect: +3 Strength, +3 Speed, +4 Dexterity. **

Ren blinked, and looked up at Naofumi. The Shield Hero had his arms crossed and was smirking. "You're welcome." He said smugly. "So, what's it do?"

"It…" Ren hesitated. "It is implying that it gives me the ability to walk on water, and buffs my damage when I am."

"Seriously? Well that would have been damn useful ten minutes ago." Naofumi snorted. "Oh well. I suppose you don't have to worry too much if we're forced to fight on the ocean again."

"It will be of limited use." Ren said doubtfully. The idea of being able to run on water sounded cool, but the thought of being out in the middle of the ocean, miles from land without so much as a boat underneath him made him shudder.

Naofumi shrugged. "A lot of the forms you'll unlock are situational. But I can think of ways to use that. Say you're fighting a bunch of monsters and need to get an edge, make them chase you out onto a lake or something. Provided they can't fly you'll have a huge advantage."

"I… guess." Ren opened up his menu and peered at the array of circles, there were hundreds, and each one was different form that came with its own unique abilities and stat buffs? That seemed superbly unbalanced.

Well… if a game _had_ to be unbalanced… At least now it would be unbalanced in _his_ favor.

Ren smirked to himself. The moment he was out of this dungeon he was going to need to send his companions out on a scavenger hunt to bring him any useful item they could find. Just the thought of all the stat buffs and abilities he'd have access to now had him tingling with excitement.

* * *

_"…talia."_

Raphtalia's ears twitched in annoyance. She was just too tired to deal with whatever that noise was right now, it sounded really far off anyway. It was probably just Filo wanting to show her some interesting bug she found before she ate it.

She felt something nudge her face, but she didn't move. If she ignored it, Filo would go away. Her body felt numb, and her eyelids felt as heavy as boulders.

Something slapped her in the face. _Hard._

Raphtalia's eyes snapped open as the stinging pain penetrated the cloud of fog around her mind. Everything was blurry, she opened her mouth to scold the stupid bird, only to have something shoved into her mouth. An acrid, bitter liquid poured across her tongue and she recoiled. She tried to spit, but something clamped her mouth shut and pinched her nose, forcing her to swallow.

As she did, the numbness began to recede.

"Raphtalia!"

She blinked. It wasn't Filo leaning over her, _thank_ the Shield, but Kýla. The martial artist was propping up her head with one hand and clutching a half-empty vial in the other.

"Hey Raph." Kýla smiled. "You alive?"

"I guess so," Raphtlia groaned, blinking groggily. "I don't think I could feel this terrible if I was dead. What happened?"

"When you killed the naga, it bit you. Turns out they have a venomous bite." Kýla shrugged. "Who knew? You shoved the thing off you and it keeled over. Then you did too."

"You mean…I got poisoned." Raphtalia's ears drooped. "_Again._"

"I'm afraid so." Kýla said, not unsympathetically.

"And you saved me." Raphtalia gave the martial artist a thankful look. "But how? I thought you said you only had the one antidote?"

"This place decided to throw us a bone. When the naga died, Ragna started speaking." She shrugged. "I was kind of panicking, so I missed some of what it said. But I did hear the thing mention the next room was a place for us to recover. So, I carried you in here." She pointed, and Raphtalia saw a large red chest sitting on a pedestal. "That had a panacea in it along with some other stuff."

"So… this place is not actually trying to kill us." Raphtalia sighed, reaching up to rub the side of her neck. She could feel a bit of blood trickling out of the pair of puncture wounds, but it wasn't very much. Her cheek honestly hurt more.

"Guess not. But here, now that you're awake, you should probably drink the rest." Kýla said holding out the bottle. Raphtalia eyed it, still half-full with liquid that looked about as appealing as it had tasted—a sort of ugly mud brown color with just a hint of acid green.

Raphtalia sighed and held out her hand, Kýla handed her the bottle. Raphtalia raised the bottle to her lips and winced as fiery pain shot across her cheek.

"Did something hit me?" she asked, gently probing her face with her fingers.

"Um… no."

"Are you sure? It really feels like someone slapped me." Kýla shifted slightly. "Are you… trying to hide your hands behind your back?"

"Okay, yes fine. I hit you." Kýla held up her hands apologetically. You weren't responding to me shaking you, and I needed you awake enough to drink the potion without choking on it."

Raphtalia nodded. She supposed it would be petty to hold a grudge considering her life had been in danger. She just hoped it wouldn't bruise too badly. "What is your hand made out of?" she groaned. "It felt like you smacked me with a bag of rocks."

"Well… I am a monk." Kýla huffed. "But are you alright? You look upset."

"I'm fine." Raphtalia answered. "I just…" she bowed her head. "needed to be saved…again."

"What are you talking about?" Kýla tilted her head to one side, grinning slightly. "You saved us both from that monster! If you hadn't, we'd both probably be dead by now."

"Yes, but if you hadn't been there to save me, I would have died as well. That's a draw, not a victory."

"Mmm." Kýla frowned at her, then shrugged. "Well, if you want to think of it that way, I can't stop you. But at least try to remember that even if it _was _a draw, the naga is dead and _you_ aren't." she smiled. "So how much of draw was it _really_? Now, seriously, drink the rest of the potion."

Raphtalia stared glumly at the bottle for a moment, then threw back her head and chugged the remaining contents in one go. Her gag reflex protested, but she ignored it. She could feel the potion working, brushing away the dull sensation in her limbs as the lingering effects of the poison dissipated.

She finished the bottle and tossed it aside, shuddering at the taste. She had no right to complain about it, she deserved it for failing like she had. She looked up and saw the martial artist had turned back to the chest. She pulled out a pair of green metal… somethings, they looked like a half circle with several holes in them. Kýla examined them critically before sliding her fingers through the holes and clenching her fist around it.

"What are those?" Raphtalia asked.

"Knuckle dusters." Kýla answered, holding out her hands for Raphtalia to see. "Think of them like a sword, but for monks." Raphtalia peered at the weapons, each one had a pair of ivory-white spikes extending several inches from the hand, just long enough to punch through armor. As she looked, her menu screen triggered.

**Fanged Fists of the Naga**

** Damage: Physical-66, Posion-33**

** Increased Critical Hit Rate.**

** Critical hits inflict Poison Status. **

"I thought monks didn't use weapons." Raphtalia said. "Aren't you supposed to use Ki to fight? Like the old lady the queen brought in to train the heroes?"

"…That's true." Kýla sighed, looking away. "But please don't compare me to her. She's a master who has decades of experience on me. I can use Ki, but only defensively." She waved a hand dismissively. "Like knocking aside that golem's punches or deflecting the naga's swords. I've always had a knack for that, but the moment I try to use it offensively, I tend to lose control of it." She paused for a moment, then raised a finger. "I… tried to do that to the golem, you know? stick my finger straight into it and shatter it to pieces like that old lady did? It didn't work."

The martial artist shook her head, frowning at weapons on her hands. "Plenty of purist martial artists turn up their nose at things like these, but I don't think there's anything wrong with using something to give yourself an edge." She sighed. "It's not like I'm a prodigy."

"Well I think you're very strong." Raphtalia said earnestly. The martial artist's skill had surprised her. After their past encounters with the Cardinal Heroes and how…lackluster their skills were compared to Master Naofumi, she'd expected their companions to be similarly inferior. She certainly hadn't been impressed by Motoyaso's cheerleading squad or that jerk knight Itsuki had that she'd totally beaten up on more than one occasion.

But Kýla was different, the monk readily threw herself into the fight and was able to walk away without so much as a scratch. Kind of like how master Naofumi did, except she knew it wasn't because Kýla had really high defense, instead focusing on avoiding the attack.

Raphtalia had to admit that Kýla was… she was a _better _fighterthan her.

Raphtalia had worked hard to grow strong, striving to be the sword master Naofumi needed. She had succeeded, she was strong, she _knew_ that. But… it seemed that without him around she could barely take care of herself.

"I'm sorry for holding you back." She said.

"Okay. Seriously." Kýla eyed her pensively. "What are you talking about?"

"I keep getting hurt and forcing you to save me. We don't have any more potions left. If you get poisoned, you'll be in serious trouble because I couldn't look after myself." Raphtalia looked down. "I'm sorry."

"Uh…" Kýla was staring at her as though she'd sprouted wings. "You also took down most of the monsters we've fought." She started counting off on her fingers. "You took down the golem. I'm pretty sure you took down more of the spiders than I did. And you took down the naga. I wouldn't have been able to make it this far without you."

"But I keep getting hurt!" Raphtalia shot back. "It doesn't matter if I'm good at killing monsters if the first one I fight kills me too! You don't have a scratch on you!" ugh, she must sound like a whiny child.

Kýla frowned at her. "Raph, can I ask you something?"

Raphtalia blinked, a little derailed. "Of course."

"How old are you?"

Raphtalia blinked again. "What?"

"How old are you." Kýla repeated. "I've been wondering. You look twenty. But you're a demi-human, soooo..." she shrugged. "Fifteen? Sixteen?"

Raphtalia shook her head. "I'm ten."

Kýla stared at her blankly. "…ten?" she repeated incredulously.

"Yes?" Raphtalia shifted uncomfortably, Kýla was looking at her as if she'd said something stupid. "What of it? My body is fully developed."

"I _noticed_." Kýla grumbled, eyes flicking down from her face than back up again. "and that's not the point. How long have you been fighting?"

"Well, I began when Master Naofumi first purchased me, so…five months?"

"Five _months!" _Kýla threw up her hands. "Are you serious?"

"Um…Yes?"

Kýla slapped a hand to her face. "Well, Raph. I think we've found the root of your problem. Five months," she scoffed. "Do you know how long _I've_ been training for combat?" Raphtalia shook her head. "Since I was seven, so more than ten years now. That's why I'm better at protecting myself than you are. I've just got _a lot_ more experience."

"Since you were seven?" Raphtalia blinked. "That's… young for a human, right?" It was always weird to think about how they didn't grow when they leveled. She'd heard stories how some human babies had adventurers for mothers who had to bring them on quests, then got experience for being part of the party and leveling up.

It was just plain bizarre to think of a baby crawling around with stats high enough to lift their cribs over their heads and not having a body to match… although, now that she thought about it, a fully grown man with the mind of a three-month old baby was also pretty strange.

Humans were weird.

"It is." Kýla nodded, sitting down next to Raphtalia and sighing. "I always wanted to be an adventurer. My father didn't approve, but instead of telling me no he decided to make me train to prepare for it. I think he wanted me to see it was going to be hard work and quit." The martial artist smirked. "But I'm as stubborn as him and my mom put together. The result was that, when I was old enough to join a party, I was ready." She smiled. "Although…between you and me, I'm still not certain if that wasn't his plan all along."

"That's sound nice."

"Nice is subjective." Kýla said flatly. "It didn't feel nice when he plopped eight-year-old me in front of a bolder and said 'break it with your bare hands or no dinner'."

Raphtalia snorted. "Really?"

"Yes, _really._ I came back with a dislocated wrist and mom gave him _such_ a tongue lashing." Kýla smirked. "But anyway. I think your damage is already higher than mine." She pursed her lips in annoyance. "It's just your self-defense that needs work."

"Perhaps you're right." Raphtalia nodded. "But the waves come so regularly, I don't have time to train properly." Even if she worked with Éclair every day in between the waves, the monsters they had to fight varied so much, the only thing that would give her the skills she needed was real combat experience.

"True enough." Kýla nodded thoughtfully. "You're going to need to find some workarounds to buff your stats. You could wear heavy armor?"

Raphtalia took a moment to imagine herself in full plate mail. Would she have to lay her ears flat, or could the helmet little metal flaps that stuck out for them? Would that look silly? And what about her tail? She could just tuck it close to her back, but that would be _so_ uncomfortable. She could almost hear Filo pointing and laughing at her already.

"Of course, there are other options." Kýla said, reaching into the chest and rummaging around. "I saw something else in here. I bet…" she held up something in front of her face and squinted at it. "Aha! Perfect." She held the hand out to Raphtalia. "Here, Raph, take this." Raphtalia reached out and the monk dropped a circular band of metal into her palm.

"What is it?" Raphtalia asked.

"An enchanted earring. I think it'll work better for you than me."

Raphtalia examined the jewelry. It was a thick, bronze-colored band with a single green gemstone set into it.

**Blessing of the Naga:**

**Greater Poison Resist**

**Evasion Boost**

**Chance to envenomate enemies on strike**

"I've… never been one for jewelry." Raphtalia said doubtfully. It was more that she'd never really been in a position to own any. Her family had always been focused on more important things, like food.

"Same." Kýla nodded. "I can't wear rings because they'd break when I punch things. But an earring is pretty unobtrusive." She smirked. "Besides, if you have that, then we'll both have a way to inflict poison. See how the monsters like it."

Raphtalia's lips pulled back into a smile. It was a _heart-warming_ thought.

She eyed the earring. At least it sort of matched the bracelet Naofumi had made for her. She held it up to the side of her right ear and the earing contracted, clamping on firmly, but not painfully. She lowered her hand, frowning at the strange weight. It wasn't heavy, but she'd never been one to decorate her ears and she got the feeling that it was making her right one droop slightly.

She glanced at Kýla, who was eyeing her critically. "How does it look?"

"It makes you look like a pirate." Kýla snickered. "I wonder if we can find you an eyepatch down here."

"If you're just going to tease me." Raphtalia huffed, raising a hand to yank it off.

"No, leave it. You could use the buffs. Also," the martial artist's took on a sly curl. "It looks cute. I bet the Shield Hero will think so too."

Raphtalia froze, feeling felt her face get warm. "L-let's just get moving. I'm feeling better now." She said, turning away doing her best to ignore her companions chuckling.

But perhaps she would leave the earring on for now… just in case.

* * *

Galdur shifted the slumbering filolial queen's weight onto one arm and used the other to open the smoking chest. There was nothing quite like the thrill of opening a dungeon chest. What was he going to get? Treasure? Trash? His hand bitten off by a mimic?

Probably not that last one, he'd already taken the precaution of setting the chest on fire before approaching. It hadn't started screaming, so it was probably a normal box.

As the lid creaked open, he could barely contain his excitement. The first things his gaze was drawn to was a wand. It was about as long as his forearm, patterned with mottled green and brown scales and shaped like two snakes coiled together.

"Oooh." He picked it up and examined it.

**Snake Caster**

** Magical Power: 102**

** Activated skill: There's a Snake in my Boot! —Fires a spectral snake to attack and distract enemies, five uses per day.**

Very nice. He nodded appreciatively. Wands made it far easier to channel magic than with just his hands and his old one had been broken in the last wave. But… what was with that skill's name?

Well… as long as he didn't have to say it out loud to activate it, then it would likely prove useful. No wizard could turn their nose up at a cantrip that could distract something long enough to get off a really big spell.

He tucked the wand into his cloak and reached for the other object in the chest.

Galdur searched around in the chest and pulled out a thin band of dark green scales. He raised an eyebrow, some kind of choker? He squinted at it to bring up its stat screen.

** Singlet of the Scaled One:**

** -30% fire resistance**

** High HP Regen**

Galdur whistled softly. That was even more impressive than the wand. Items with permanent healing enchantments of any real strength were rare. The lowered resistance to fire was a small price to pay for that. But this was more suited for a frontline fighter, perhaps he should gift it to Lord Ren?

"What's that?" Filo murmured sleepily in his ear, making him jump. He'd thought she was dead to the world.

"An enchanted accessory. Our reward for overcoming the hydra." Galdur frowned. "Er…" Nice as it would be to gift it to Lord Ren, Filo _had _been the one who actually killed the damn thing. "Would you like it? I think it would suit your… fighting style."

If you could call charging headfirst at the enemy a fighting style.

Filo's nose wrinkled. "It smells like dragon."

"Well. I suppose," Galdur shrugged. "But it carries quite a useful enchantment."

"Filo doesn't care. She doesn't want it."

Galdur frowned. "Well, alright." He said, "If you're sure…" he slid the choker into a pocket, feeling a little guilty, as though he was taking advantage of the fact that his current companion was… not the sharpest sword in the smithy. But she wasn't interested in it, so it should be fine… "Do you need to sleep more? Or can we press on?"

The girl yawned again. "Mmmmm... keep going." She smiled sleepily him. "Don't worry, wizard guy, if monsters attack us, Filo will wake up and kill them." She reached up a hand and patted his cheek. "You don't need to be scared."

"…I'll keep that in mind." He answered flatly, all feelings of guilt miraculously gone. He stepped around the chest and made for the far door.

S&DS&DS&DS&D

**Well, another chapter down and, to me, an important one. I began this story because I wanted to write this scene between Naofumi and Ren. Naofumi never tried very hard to tell the other heroes the truth about his shield, even though he promised he'd would. He does kind of owe them the information. **

**Raphtalia's scene also a big part of it. I like her character, even if I struggle with writing it. I thought that realistically, she's probably not that skilled a fighter. For reasons I explained in the chapter. She's got high level and stats, but she is effectively a newbie (I type, having never fought anyone in my life). Did my portrayal come off as realistic? **

**And then there's Filo. I love her character. But there is not a lot of room in her head for complex conflict. She's as simple as the child she is. **

**Anyway, that's the chapter. What's gonna happen next? Good question. I have no idea and no plans. We'll just have to wait and see what I come up with.**

**Until next time!**


	7. Carnival of FUN!

**This chapter went in a lot of strange directions. But I think it worked out. **

**Shield Seven: Carnival of FUN! **

S&DS&DS&DS&D

"Is that…" Ren said slowly, as if hoping that if he took his time to acknowledge it, it would go away. "A circus tent?"

"We're gonna be fighting killer clowns. I'm calling it now." Naofumi answered.

Ren shot him look of absolute disgust.

"Oh, come on, Ren." Naofumi rolled his eyes. "Stop being so grumpy. You're making _me_ look like the cheerful one."

Ren's response was cut off by a loud puttering noise. As they watched, a miniscule car drove out of the tent and began to chuff its way toward them.

"Ha." Naofumi smirked. "A clown car. Called it."

"This dungeon is getting more ridiculous by the moment." Ren sighed. "Cars don't exist in Melomarc. This completely ruins the immersion."

"Ruins the immersion." Naofumi mused. "You worry about interesting things, Ren."

The car stopped a short distance from them, parking so that the passenger side doors were aimed their way. As they watched, one of the doors flew open and a balloon monster popped out. It was wearing a rainbow-colored wig.

The balloon leapt toward Ren, jagged teeth stretching wide to bite him. Naofumi promptly stuck out his arm and intercepted it. It latched onto him with a furious snarl, gnashing its teeth as it tried for all it was worth to tear his flesh off.

"That tickles." Naofumi commented, grabbing the monster with his other arm and peeling it off. He held it out for Ren to stab.

"What a waste of time." Ren snarled, running it through.

Then the tiny car began to shake, rattling furiously like it was about to explode. All at once a stream of balloon monsters shot out of the car, flying toward them in a wave of teeth.

Naofumi thrust out his hand. "Air Strike Shield!"

The balloons smacked into the barrier, but the stream didn't let up. Dozens of angry spheres piled up on each other and flowed over the top of the barrier, descending over the pair of heroes like a rain of angry basket balls.

* * *

"So, you really just went _everywhere_ in that wagon?" Kýla asked, grabbing the edge of the boulder and hauling herself up, then turning to offer her hand to Raphtalia. She took it gratefully.

The chamber they'd entered was more of a sheer cliff than anything else, they'd had to pick their way through a narrow rocky path only partially illuminated by floating balls of mage light that only barely managed to light their path.

"Naofumi didn't know the Cardinal Weapons could be used to teleport to places we've been before." Raphtalia shrugged, taking the hand and letting the martial artist haul her upwards. "Nobody told him."

"That's unfortunate. Lord Ren uses that feature all the time and its pretty amazing. Spatial magic like that is supposed to be very difficult. Galdur has talked to me—well, _at_ me—about it at length." Raphtalia could practically hear the martial artist rolling her eyes. "The gist of it was that the Cardinal Weapons are _special._" She snorted. "Who _knew_? Point is, there have been days where I have quite literally been to every corner of the kingdom over the course of an hour."

"Sounds convenient."

"It is," the martial artist agreed. "But it doesn't exactly leave you much time to explore and experience new places when you're rushing around so much, and Lord Ren is always in a hurry."

"Does he ever leave any of you behind?"

"Of course not." Kýla answered. "We're registered as his party members, when he teleports, we teleport too. Even if we're not with him." Her tone soured slightly. "Which… can be kind of awkward, if you were in the middle of something."

Raphtalia ears perked up. It sounded like there was a story there… "Oh?"

Kýla shot her a sidelong look. "I'll only tell you if you tell me something interesting first."

"Mmmm… okay." That was fair. Raphtalia thought for a moment. "When Filo first hatched, she liked to ride on Master Naofumi's head. She's too big for that now, but sometimes she forgets and tries to do it anyway."

Kýla stopped and turned back to look at her. "No way. You've got to be messing with me." Raphtalia grinned and shook her head. Kýla's lips twitched, and she couldn't stop the grin from spreading across her face at the mental image.

Raphtalia prodded her. "Alright, now your turn."

"Oh, well." Kýla shrugged. "It's not actually as great a story as that. It's just, one-time Ren teleported us all away without warning for some monster hunting quest and I, uh… well, he had told us he was giving us the day off so I, um…" Kýla paused for a moment.

"Yeah?"

"I… may have been in the middle of a date at the time." The martial artist looked away. "It was just with a cute blacksmith I saved from a troll on one of our quests. But we were having a nice time, and he was leaning in to kiss me then…poof!" she waved a hand. "I vanished in a burst of light." She sighed. "I bet _that_ left an impression."

"Oh…" Raphtalia said, her face turning pink. "You almost got pregnant?" she blurted, before she could stop herself.

Kýla paused mid-step, and Raphtalia could feel her own face going from pink to cherry red as the martial artist turned to give her a look that was a both confused and maybe a little offended. "…Okay, it was just a date. I wasn't going to take it _that_ far."

Raphtalia swallowed, this conversation had set sail into unknown territories, but it was too late to back out. "…that far?"

Kýla opened her mouth, her brow scrunching into full confusion for a moment before smoothing out. "Oh." She said slowly, nodding. "Right! You're… ten. I'm guessing you haven't, uh, had The Talk, have you?"

Yes. She was definitely missing something here, but she wasn't totally sure if she wanted to know what it was. "…The Talk?"

Kýla stiffened. "Oh, hey look!" she said quickly, turning away. "This looks like a nice spot to take a break before we keep climbing." She gestured wildly at a small flat space amidst the rocky path. "Let's do that!"

"Sounds good." Raphtalia nodded rapidly, grabbing the lifeline and gratefully pulling herself out of these uncharted waters. She picked her way over to a suitable boulder and sat down with a sigh. They had to have been climbing for at least an hour. Or maybe not. It was hard to tell with no sun to gauge the time's passing.

"So…" Kýla settling herself down on her own rock and stretching her arms over her head. "When do you think we're going to get attacked?" Raphtalia looked at her questioningly. "Well, we're getting close to the top." The martial artist explained. "This dungeon is supposed to test the Cardinal Hero and friends, right? Climbing a mountain is good fun and all, but that seems a little mundane." She frowned staring up at the cliff face overhead. "Something is going to attack us soon... either at the peak or on our way there."

Raphtalia nodded. "You're probably right." She sighed, reaching up to unclasp her earring and hand it to her companion. "But what would be the point of making us climb anyway? Our levels are high enough that this kind of exertion is nothing. So why…" she tried to put herself in the dungeon's mind…or, whatever it had.

It seemed to be throwing things at them that they were personally poorly equipped to handle. What would be the challenge here? she peered back the way they had come, narrow trails and sheer surfaces, with poor footing all the way. If one of them fell, well… with their stats, they'd _survive,_ and regaining their footing to jump back up might not be impossible, but… an unpleasant idea occurred.

"You don't think we're going to be attacked by something that can fly, do you?"

Kýla blinked; then leaned forward to peer over the edge, taking in what Raphtalia was looking at.

"That…" she said at length. "is certainly a less than pleasant thought." She was quiet for a long moment. Then nodded. "I was thinking something was going to be hiding amongst all the rocks. But I bet that's going to be it."

"What should we do?" Raphtalia asked, taking a deep breath to keep calm. In a situation like that, she would be one step short of useless. If Master Naofumi was here, he could create Air Strike Shields for her to stand on. Or Filo could just jump around the mountain with her wind magic. But without them…

To her surprise, Kýla smirked. "Don't worry, Raph." She pushed herself off her seat and crouched over the rubble strewed across the ground. "I know just how to deal with flyers."

"What do you mean?" Raphtalia asked. From what she had seen, the martial artist was every bit the melee fighter that she was.

"I told you I've been training for years, remember?" the martial artist said brightly. "Do you really think that in all that time, I never spared a thought about what to do if I had to fight a flier?" She reached toward the ground and snatched something before turning back with a wide smile. "You would be _amazed_ how many problems can be solved with a well-placed rock."

"You… throw rocks?"

"Well, okay. If you want to make it sound lame, then yes." Kýla rolled her eyes. "But I prefer to say that I launch them." She tossed the fist-sized hunk of granite from one hand to the other experimentally. "I can take down a harpy at a hundred paces. I know because my dad made me do just that."

"What if its something much bigger than a harpy?" Raphtalia asked. "Like… a dragon?"

"I hit it in the eye, and then, while it's distracted by the rock lodged halfway in its brain, you leap up and cut off its head."

Raphtalia stared, still feeling uncertain. But there was something… infectious about the monk's confidence.

"Well…" she said slowly, a grin working its way across her face. "Then let's go."

"That's the spirit!" Kýla laughed. "Don't worry, we've taken on everything this dungeon has thrown at us, and we'll take this too." Then, as she finished speaking, a rushing noise like a howling wind filled the cavern.

Then all the mage lights illuminating the pathway snuffed out.

"Oh." Kýla's voice was flat in the sudden blackness. "Well _that's_ just not fair."

Then Raphtalia heard a noise echo from somewhere overhead, a series of deep, baritone notes that sunk into her ears and made her bones thrum.

"Whoo-HOO! Hoo Hoo!"

* * *

Ren let out a roar of rage as he fell through the air and rammed his sword through the roof of the tiny car. Its engine spluttered, then, with a sad little honk, died, and the endless stream of balloon monsters finally stopped.

Ren turned toward the remaining mobs. There were maybe about a hundred of the angry balls left, snarling and spitting as they hopped towards him.

He raised his sword.

A minute later they were all gone.

He scowled as he sheathed his sword, feeling personally insulted by how much trouble that had been. The balloons hadn't been much of a threat, of course, but their numbers had been downright tedious. Not to mention…

"Nicely done." Naofumi clapped.

"You could have helped!" Ren snarled. The Shield Hero had done almost nothing to help him kill the balloons.

"Less than you might think." Naofumi answered. "I actually have a lot of trouble killing these."

Ren stared at him in disbelief. "How?"

"Balloons don't actually hit hard enough to trigger my counter skills." Naofumi shrugged. "Without those, I can't actually deal much damage. But don't act like I didn't help. My Hate Reaction bought you time to kill the car."

Ren shook his head. "That's—" he noticed a lump jutting out from under the Shield Hero's cloak. "I think there's still one biting you."

"Huh?" Naofumi looked down and shifted his cloak aside to reveal one of the monsters gnawing on his hip. "Oh, must have missed that one." He swiveled his hips so the balloon was closer to Ren. "Stab it for me, will ya?"

"Kill it yourself." Ren snapped, turning away.

He knew that, being the Shield, Naofumi naturally had high defense. But seeing it in action like that was _ridiculous_. It was true these balloons couldn't have dealt him much damage either, but he'd at least _felt _it when one or two of the swarm had managed to bite him. But there had been dozens of them chewing on Naofumi at once, making him look like some kind of mutant bunch of grapes.

Naofumi caught up and fell in pace beside him, the balloon now chewing on his arm. "It'll be easier just to use it to block an attack or something." He explained at Ren's look.

"You seriously can't just kill it outright?"

"Not without punching it for several minutes." Ren stared at him for a minute, then scoffed. His drew his sword and gave the balloon a quick slash, popping it instantly.

"Now that's what I call teamwork." Naofumi smirked.

They stopped in front of the entrance flaps to the giant colored tent.

"There's going to be something absolutely stupid in there," Ren said glumly. "I just know it."

"Seems like a safe bet." Naofumi nodded. "I'm guessing the clown car was just the… opening act."

Ren shot him a glare and saw the Shield Hero was smirking slightly. "You're in a cheery mood. Who are you and what have you done with Naofumi?"

Naofumi shrugged. "I guess I just always liked the circus. The elephants were cool."

"Really? You? Mr. Everything-and-everyone-is-terrible?"

Naofumi shrugged again. "I don't think everything is terrible. Just people in general."

Ren shook his head, there was no sense in putting off facing whatever terribly tacky thing awaited inside. He pushed past Naofumi and stepped into the tent. It was largely empty, with a set of bare bleachers lining the outer edges and the center taken up by an enormous ring half sunk into the floor. On the far side of the place, Naofumi could spot a door—presumably the exit-oversized and gaudily painted black and red and covered in a series of chains and padlocks.

The only other thing in the tent was a figure standing in the center of the ring. It looked barely taller than their knees and was dressed in a flashy suit and a top hat. The figure waved at them when they entered, whipping off its hat with a flourish and bowing.

"I already hate it." Ren said.

"Yeah." Naofumi nodded. He could already tell this wasn't going to be a fearsome, yet straightforward struggle between them and a giant monster. This fight was going to be…tricky. Like the undine had been. "I'm going to trap it." He murmured out of the corner of his mouth. "Then you attack and maybe we can end this quickly before it does anything…fun."

"Agreed."

"Shield Prison!" a tiny sphere of shields materialized around the tiny figure and slammed shut. Ren's body blurred and he streaked towards the prison, ramming his sword through it mere moments after the prison formed.

Ren held the skewered prison aloft and Naofumi dismissed it. The shields vanished to reveal nothing inside. A loud giggle in Naofumi's ear made him wince, he turned his head and saw the figure sitting on his shoulder. Up close he could see it had a hooked nose and pointed features, like some kind of imp. It smiled at him with pearly white teeth and patted his face affectionately.

"Naofumi!" Ren blurred toward him "Hold still!" he drew back his sword and lunged. Naofumi's eyes bugged out. He whipped his arm up and intercepted the blade with a clang and the imp disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Naofumi!" Ren snarled. "Why'd you stop me?"

"Are you trying to take my head off?" Naofumi snapped back.

"I wasn't putting much effort into the swing; your defense stat would have tanked it!"

"Like I'd trust you to do that right!"

A loud whistle made them look around to see the imp floating back towards the middle of the ring. It reached into its waistcoat pocket and pulled out a tiny silver bell. It grinned at them and rang the bell. Immediately the ring lit up as though a set of spotlights had turned on and there was a burst of smoke.

Several figures stepped out of the smoke. A giant, muscly humanoid with horns and a waxed mustache cracked its knuckles at them. A pair of red and black clad harlequins with cloven hoofs giggled and juggled several knives between them, and the imp was behind them perched atop an enormous three-headed lion.

"Great." Ren groaned. "A whole circus."

"Yep." Naofumi sighed, raising his shield. "I'll take the big guy. You handle the smaller ones. If you have a shot at the ringleader, take it."

"Don't tell me what to do." But the swordsman advanced on the pair of harlequins who grinned and split up, their hooves clopping against the ground as they continued to toss knives back and forth.

The horned giant stalked toward Naofumi, then stopped for a moment. The monster pressed its fists together near its waist and then jerked its arms. Its body rippled and its shirt tore off its body. The monster grinned, leering at Naofumi as it flexed its muscles.

Naofumi raised an eyebrow at the bulging six-pack. "Is that supposed to intimidate me?"

Then a menu screen popped up in front of his eyes.

**Warning! Stat Ailment inflicted: You are Intimidated! Def. and Str. Decreased by 10%!**

"… Oh. Okay." Naofumi sighed.

Then the giant charged, bringing both of its hands together in a wild haymaker that threatened to squash him flat.

* * *

"Oooh! This place looks FUN!" Filo cheered, bounding further into the room.

Galdur followed more cautiously but couldn't deny feeling some strange wonder in the sight. The space was dominated by a single massive tree. The trees roots snaked across the chamber and its gargantuan trunk gave off an impression that it could support the world without strain. He squinted upward; the tree was so tall that he could only get the faintest impression of branches stretching far in the distance.

The majesty of the sight made him feel… insignificant—but not in a bad way. He frowned. No insignificant wasn't quite the right word, perhaps humbled? Or maybe honored? It was a peaceful feeling.

"How majestic…" he smiled.

"Wheeee!" Filo giggled, jumping over the roots with a wild joy. "The floor is bouncy!"

Galdur blinked and looked down. Most of the floor was covered in a thick carpet of moss. He took a few steps farther into the room. He didn't think bouncy was the right word, but it certainly felt rather springy. He couldn't deny the sudden urge to strip off his boots and go running across it barefoot like Filo was. There was just something about the girl's unbridled glee that was downright infectious.

He shook his head, beautiful though the scenery was, they _were_ in a dungeon. "Careful Galdur," he murmured to himself. "You let your guard down in the last room and almost got eaten by a hydra." He looked out across the room with a new eye, trying to spot something terrible lurking amidst the roots. But all he could see was Filo rolling around on the moss and staining her dress green.

A movement out of the corner of his eye made look up. There was something moving down the tree's trunk, his hand flew to his wand as it reached the ground and darted over the roots toward them, zipping around Filo and coming to a stop in front of him.

"Oh." Galdur said, relaxing slightly. "It's just a squirrel."

"Oh." Said the squirrel. "It's just a human."

Galdur blinked.

The squirrel blinked back.

"What?" Galdur said.

"Oh, I'm sorry." The squirrel answered, the pointed red tufts of fur on its ears twitching. "I thought we were playing a game where we pointed out something obvious."

Galdur frowned, feeling like he'd lost his grasp on the situation. "Er… who are you?"

The squirrel tilted its head to one side and gave what was probably supposed to be a smile. "I'm—woah!" the rodent flung itself into the air as Filo, who had been gradually creeping closer, made a grab for it. It slipped through her fingers and left her blinking owlishly at her own empty fingers. "Now now, princess. That was rude." The squirrel chittered.

"Princess?" Filo echoed, climbing to her feet as if she hadn't just tried to grab the squirrel.

"I recognize a Filolial Queen when I see one." The rodent squeaked, "Ratatoskyr, at your service." It bowed, its bushy tail waving in amusement. It turned its nose toward Galdur. "I believe that would make this your hand servant?"

"Erm, actually—"

"That's right." Filo nodded brightly, bending over and peering at the squirrel. "What are you doing here, Mr. Rat Tusk?"

"Well, I'm a squirrel. There's a big tree here." It tilted back its head to gesture at the enormous trunk towering over them. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say I live here." It rubbed its front paws together, whiskers twitching. "So, what brings you to my neck of the woods?"

"We are… just passing through." Galdur said. "I don't suppose you'd know where there would be a door around here? Perhaps around the far side of the tree?" he glanced at the trunk. It really would be quite a trek to get around it. Maybe Filo would let him ride her again."

"A door?" the squirrel chattered. "Sure. I know where that is. But your thinking's wrong. It's not around, it's under."

"You mean… under the tree?"

"Oh, we got a smart one here!" the squirrel laughed, "Yep. There's a doorway all tangled up in my tree's roots." It pointed with his tail to a thick ball of woody tendrils so thick that Galdur likely couldn't have wrapped both arms all the way around them that sat at the base of the tree.

"I'm gonna be honest with you." The squirrel said conversationally. "Nobody has gone through there in _quite_ a while. It _might_ be a little overgrown."

"I can see that." Galdur sighed.

"Ooh! Leave it to Filo!" the transformed filolial skipped over to the ball of roots, each one thicker than she was, and dug her fingers into one of them. She pulled, but the root didn't budge. She pouted and pulled harder, which rewarded her with a groan of bending wood as the root shifted slightly. She readjusted her grip and yanked, tearing the root free with one mighty heave.

Galdur stared, trying with a reasonable amount of success to not feel inadequate at the sight. Even Kýla, with her all her meat-headed muscles, probably couldn't have done that, so he had no reason to feel envious. Not everyone could be borderline mythical creatures of legend.

"This might take a bit, Wizard Guy." Filo called back, peering at the dozens of tangled roots. "Filo will handle it so why don't you find some place to sit while she deals with this?"

…On the bright side, after this whole ideal was over, he doubted he'd ever find Kýla's feats of strength quite so emasculating ever again. He shook his head, sitting down on a nearby root to watch.

"Well well," said an unnecessarily loud voice in his ear. He turned his head to see that Ratatoskyr had climbed onto his shoulder at some point. "She's really something, isn't she?" the squirrel said brightly.

"She certainly is." He agreed wearily.

"…So, tell me, Mr. Hand Servant." The squirrel said, its voice losing the bubbly cheer. "Are you sure you can trust that thing?"

"What?" Galdur blinked, taken aback by the shift of tone. "You mean Filo?"

"Who else?" the squirrel nodded. "Did you see her try to grab me? I thought I was going to get _eaten._"

"Oh, I'm sure she wasn't going to do that." Galdur answered. "Her belly is full." He shuddered, recalling the sight of her gorging herself on the hydra's corpse. "_Very_ full. I assure you."

"Oh good." The squirrel rolled its eyes. "That means we're both safe for all of five minutes while she works up an appetite."

"What do you mean?"

Ratatoskyr just looked at him like he said he thought feet were the most intelligent part of the body. "Galdur, come on. It's just the two of us, there's no need to pretend." It pointed a paw at Filo, who was busily tearing up some of the giant roots with her bare hands. "Just look at her, all cute in her pretty little dress, but you and I both know that's not what she is." The squirrel lowered its voice. "She's a _monster_, capricious and destructive as any dragon, the only difference is that she looks cute sometimes."

Well… the squirrel wasn't _wrong._ He'd seen first-hand how dangerous Filo could be. If she turned on him, he'd be torn to pieces in seconds…

"I wonder how long until she decides on a whim to see how good you taste?"

Galdur nodded uncertainly. It wasn't like the words weren't echoing his own thoughts when he'd first been trapped with the filolial in this dungeon.

"It occurs to me that an _intelligent_ man would take the chance to strike before she gets the chance."

…Attack… Filo?

Galdur blinked, the sudden idea grinding against his train of thought like a jarring epiphany. His brow furrowed and he realized his wand was already half-raised to point at his girl's back.

…_What_?

He blinked again, feeling like he'd had a cloud of fog shoved into his ears. He turned his head to stare at the squirrel still perched on his shoulder.

What was he doing listening to a talking squirrel that he'd met in a dungeon full of monsters?

"Damn." The squirrel rolled its head with a long-suffering sigh. "Guess you're not a _total_ idiot."

Galdur snapped his free hand up, making a grab for the creature, but it leapt from its perch and darted away. He pointed his serpent-headed wand at it and muttered a quick incantation, conjuring a fireball that streaked after the fleeing rodent.

The squirrel leapt to the side at the last moment, making the fireball miss… and hit the root Filo was holding. The fireball exploded, sending out a tongue of flame that rolled over the filolial.

"Ouch!" She shrieked, jumping back and flapping her hands to put out the flames lapping at the hem of her dress. "Wizard Guy, what the heck!?" she squawked.

"Yes, how could you do that?" Ratatoskyr asked, jumping up to land on Filo's shoulder. "Are you all right, princess?" it asked, its chattering voice turning sugary sweet.

"Filo!" Galdur barked, pointing his wand at the squirrel. "Grab that squirrel!"

"Don't tell Filo what to do!" The filolial's eyes narrowed angrily at him. "And don't you point that at Filo, Wizard Guy. She'll clobber you."

"Filo, that—"

"Be careful, Princess!" Ratatoskyr shrieked. "He wants to kill you!"

Galdur's jaw dropped. "_What_?"

"Do you have any idea how special you are, your majesty?" Ratatoskyr simpered. "You're a Filolial Queen! A being of legend! The other Cardinal Heroes have always been jealous of your master."

"Filo!" Galdur barked. "Don't listen to it. It's trying to trick you!"

"Why do you think that you were sent to this dungeon?" The squirrel went on. "To separate you from your master!" Filo stared at it with wide-eyed astonishment as it went on. "They want to get rid of you. Get rid of your master! You _mustn't_ let them succeed!"

"Filo—"

"Wizard Guy…" she answered slowly, looking at him with narrowed eyes. "You almost hit Filo with that meaty ore spell earlier."

"He did indeed." The squirrel said. "It was only through your own skill that you were able to dodge his assassination attempt."

"I was aiming for the hydra!" Galdur answered, frantic. The squirrel's words were nonsense, obviously. Two seconds of logical thought would make that obvious. But…. Filo really did look like she was listening. He swallowed; his mouth suddenly dry.

Filo wasn't very big on critical thinking. That hadn't seemed like much of an issue until now, and… it wasn't just the words. There was something about the squirrel's voice, it carried a weight greater than just words. Some kind of hypnotic suggestion; he could practically see it stealing over the girl! She simply didn't have a high enough INT. stat to resist.

He couldn't fight Filo. It was flat out _not _an option. But he pointed his wand at her anyway. He needed to act _now._ He drew on his wizard skills and called on a cantrip.

"Arcane Force!" A blast of invisible energy shot from the wand's tip, slamming into Filo, bowling the girl over. The squirrel had leapt from its perch before the cantrip hit, dashing around behind him. He spun to give chase, but it hadn't gone far.

Ratatoskyr was perched on a torn root a short distance away, staring up at him with a smirk that looked downright disturbing on the rodent face.

"Wizard Guy…" the growl behind him sent icy tendrils of panic creeping down his spine, but he steeled himself and raised his wand.

The squirrel. He _needed_ to kill the squirrel. With it gone, the hypnotic influence would end and he just _might_ have a chance of calming Filo down. But with the squirrel's speedany spell he had would be to slow to hit it, and he could tell from its devilishly smug look that the little beast _knew _that.

Unless… he pointed the wand at the squirrel and screamed.

"There's a snake in my boot!"

Ratatoskyr jerked, preparing to dart away, but paused halfway through the motion. "You..._what?_—" the squirrel's question was cut off as a spectral snake materialized behind it, lunging and wrapping its coils around the furry creature.

Ratatoskyr shrieked. But Galdur was already chanting. "Oh raging storms, rewrite the laws of nature and grant me your thunderous fury—"

A shadow fell over him and felt his heart sink, he'd been too slow. Filo, now in her true form, hit him from behind. He felt two sets of talons rip through his cloak and rake across his flesh, setting his flesh on fire with agony.

Desperately biting back the scream, he thrust out the wand and forced the spell to completion as the weight bore him to the ground. "Lightning!"

He had just enough time to see the bolt of energy, sent wide by the monstrous bird crashing into him, miss the squirrel and felt a pit of despair open in him.

Then he hit the ground, and knew no more.

S&DS&DS&DS&D

**I'm gonna be level with you all: Balloons are actually my favorite monster from Shield Hero. There's just something about their design that really does it for me. And I really wanted a scene where Ren and Naofumi get swamped by hundreds of them but making them fight just a bunch of balloons seemed a step down from the undine. So I added a carnival to give it flavor.**

** Raphtalia and Kýla's scene admittedly turned into me fulfilling the thought that what Raphtalia really needs is a cool older sister. Oops. But it'll be all action-y next chapter. I swear. **

** The inspiration for Filo's scene was I was taking a walk and saw a squirrel. I thought to myself: I should make Filo fight that. **

**For those who may not be familiar, Ratatoskyr is a fantastic piece of Norse mythology. He's a squirrel who lives on the trunk of Yggdrasil and pretty much just goes up and down passing on insults between Nidhogg, the dragon who lives in the roots and an unnamed eagle that rests in the tree's branches. Basically, his whole purpose is to help two powerful creatures at opposite ends of the universe talk shit to each other. I've tweaked it a bit here, but that's the main inspiration. **

** Yep. This is what I come up with if left to my own devices. Not sure if I should be proud or not. **

** But anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you thought, I'd be very much appreciated. **


	8. Bird Vs Squirrel

**Hoo Boy, this chapter put up a fight, so it took a bit longer to write. But that's what I get for telling some people who asked that it wouldn't take more than two weeks. But I got it written in the end!**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 8: Bird Vs. Squirrel**

S&DS&DS&DS&D

"…Wizard Guy?"

Filo blinked down at the prone wizard, a whirlwind of anger and confusion swirling through her head. He was strewn across the ground like a ragdoll. One of his hands was stretched out, his snaky wand having dropped from his fingers. His other arm was hidden from view by the fold of his cloak, which had a widening red stain on the back that demanded her attention.

How had that happened? "Are… Are you alright?"

"Princess..." Filo's head jerked around to stare at the squirrel. It was staring at her with beady eyes, its ears and tails drooping sadly. "You've_ killed _him."

"W-what?" Filo blinked, the words sweeping away the last dregs of anger in a wave of horror."

"He was your companion, and you _killed_ him." Ratatoskyr shook his head mournfully. "You're a murderer."

"B-but Filo was defending herself!"

Wasn't she? She couldn't really… She'd been angry, like, staring down a big ugly dragon angry. But what had gotten her so mad? There weren't any dragons around… Filo shook her head violently. That wasn't important right now! Wizard Guy was in trouble, she needed to help him!

There was a puff of smoke as she turned back into her human form and kneeled over the wizard. What would master do in this situation? He'd give Wizard Guy a potion. But she never carried any of those, maybe Wizard Guy had one of them in his pockets. She gingerly tried to stick her hand underneath the folds of the torn cloak, only to flinch back as the man groaned.

"Wizard Guy! You're not murdered!" He didn't respond, but that was okay! If he wasn't dead yet, then she could save him!

"It's only a matter of time," Ratatoskyr sighed. "I'm afraid he's not a tank class; those wounds will kill him. There's no way to get around it, princess, you've as good as killed him."

The words sent another wave of horror rushing through her, but Filo shook her head, forcing the feeling down. She could figure out what had happened later, right now there had to be something she could do. The problem was that Wizard Guy was gonna bleed out, right? So, she should try to stop that first. She'd seen master have bandages put on him, so how hard could it be? She gathered up a bundle of the wizards torn cloak in her hands and paused uncertainly, was she just supposed to press it against the gashes? She didn't—

"The Shield Hero is going to have to abandon you." Ratatoskyr said sadly.

Filo's thoughts came to a screeching halt, the words eclipsing everything else. The scraps of cloth fell from nerveless fingers as her mind tried to process what she had heard.

Master was going to… _abandon_ her?

Filo frowned, her brow scrunching up. _Master was going to abandon_ _her_—the thought echoed around her head again and again. But she couldn't bring herself to understand it. It just didn't seem to fit.

"What are you talking about?" Filo asked, squinting at the squirrel.

"Do you not understand?" the squirrel's whiskers drooped sympathetically. "Your master is a Hero. He can't travel around with a murderer, what will the people say?"

"Master doesn't care what people say." Filo said promptly, and as she said it, some of the horror running laps in her mind seemed to recede. Her head might be all turned around, but she _knew_ that was true.

The squirrel blinked at her.

"Master wouldn't throw Filo away." She said and knew that was even more true. Master could be grouchy, and maybe sometimes he snapped at her when she said she was hungry.

But he wouldn't _ever_ abandon her.

He would sooner turn his back on the world and set the whole thing on fire, she'd heard him say so!

The squirrel was speaking again, but Filo tuned it out. Her head felt a clearer, like she'd had feathers stuffed in her ears and finally pulled them out. She thought back once more over what had happened. She really _had _been the one who hurt Wizard Guy, she remembered now.

The heck had she done that for? The guy was jumpy and silly, and Filo was always having to protect him from the bad guys. But he wasn't a Bad Guy, and he wouldn't have been dumb enough to attack Filo on purpose. He hadn't even been facing her when she hit him! He'd been pointing that snake rod of his at… the squirrel.

Her head snapped around to stare at the rodent.

"You did this." Filo declared.

"What?" the squirrel blinked, its tail puffing up and standing erect with indignation. "B-but you're the one who attacked him. The is blood on your talons!"

"No." Filo shook her head; she couldn't put it into words, but she _knew_ she was right.

"Ah, I see." The squirrel's tone shifted, becoming harder. "I must have hit some kind of mental block. Oh well," The squirrel sat upright and raised its front paws in a shrug. "Fine, princess, you got me." It's furry face stretched back into a grotesque grin. "I'm the one who talked you into murdering your friends, and may I just say that I'm personally _amazed_ at how easy it was." The squirrel gave a chittering laugh. "But then again, I suppose it's not _that_ big of a surprise. Filolials have always spectacularly stupid. Or should I say bird-brained?"

Filo narrowed her eyes. She could feel herself getting angry again. But it was different this time. The anger felt like it was really _hers. _"I'm gonna stomp you flat, Rat Tusk." She hissed, transforming back into her bird form to tower over the rodent.

The squirrel's grin stretched wider, and its body began to swell. Doubling, then tripling in size without showing any sign of stopping, reddish fur turning orange with crimson swirls as its limbs stretched out until its manic black eyes were level with Filo's.

"You think I _had_ to trick you into killing each other?" the squirrel chattered, its voice having taken a manic edge. "I did that for _fun. _But I'm also fine with skipping the mind games and just tearing your eyes out myself. That could be fun too!"

"Is that supposed to scare Filo?" she snorted. "she's stomped things way bigger than you."

"Sure you have, princess." The squirrel laughed, its raggedy tail lashing the ground behind it. "When I'm done with you, not even Nidhoggyr will want to gnaw on what's left. But it's almost a shame. I would have loved to see the Shield Hero's face when he finds out what you did."

Filo screeched and lunged. She was gonna tear that squirrel's laughing face off!

* * *

Ren twisted out of the way of another pair of flung knives and dashed forward. The hooved harlequin tried to skip backward, its eyes looking panicked behind its mask, but he knew that was an act.

He dove towards the ground, and saw a pair of knives fly overhead where his back had been. The dive had thrown off his momentum, but that was fine. He slashed out with his sword and sliced off one of the Harlequins legs at the knee. The beastly circus performer bleated in pain as it spilled to the ground.

Ren rolled to his feet and finished it off with one quick stab. He had a brief moment of satisfaction before something hit him in the shoulder. He hissed in pain and tore the knife out. His armor had stopped most of the damaged, but the tip was bloody. He turned to glare at the remaining harlequin. It looked around with wide eyes as if to say; 'what? Who threw that?_'_

A few seconds later, he'd decapitated it.

That was one set of enemies down, and he turned to face the rest. To his surprise, Naofumi still facing off against the horned muscleman. He watched the monster spin and deliver a haymaker toward the Shield Hero. Naofumi blocked it with his shield, but the force of the blow sent him sliding back. Then his shield began to grow, and a pair of rabid-looking wolf heads sprouted from it, extending out on a pair of grotesquely long necks and sinking their fangs into the muscle-man's shoulders.

The monster threw back its head and guffawed, reaching up and grabbing each of the dog heads in one hand.

"Well, that's going nowhere fast." Ren snorted. Readying his blade; the muscleman's back was to him, so he might as well take advantage. He activated his dash skill. As he started to move, he saw the imp ringmaster appear on the muscleman's shoulder in a puff of smoke. It waved cheerfully at him with one hand while tugging on the monster's ear with the other.

The muscled monster swung around, arms outstretched and pulling the wolf heads with it. Ren saw Naofumi's eyes go wide as he was yanked off his feet and whipped through the air. Ren broke off his charge to duck as the Shield Hero was slung over head and crashed into the ground.

"What the hell, Naofumi?" Ren demanded. "You're stronger than this."

"Shut up." Naofumi snapped back. "Don't look at the thing when it flexes."

"What? Why not?" Ren glanced at the muscleman curiously.

The monster had turned so its back was too them. It curled one hand down towards its hip and the other up towards its shoulder. Then it flexed, muscles rippling down its back as it leered over one shoulder at him.

**Warning! Stat Ailment Inflicted: You feel Emasculated! Def. and Str. Decreased by 10%!**

"Oh." Ren said flatly. "That's why."

"Nice job." Naofumi muttered, climbing to his feet.

"Shut up, Naofumi."

* * *

"Hoo Hoo Hoo!" The haunting call rang out again in the blackness, telling them beyond doubt that there was something enormous moving around unseen far above their heads.

"Well, at least that doesn't sound like it's a dragon." Kýla said, her voice low. "Demi-humans can see in the dark, right? Like, that's a thing, and not just something stupid people say?"

"Some of us can," Raphtalia answered distractedly, peering up to see if she could spot whatever was in here with them. "it depends on the kind of demi-human."

"Okay." Kýla said with strained patience. "What about racoon demi-humans? You specifically?"

"Oh. Yes, I can." The cavern wasn't pitch black and her eyes were adjusting. If she squinted, she could already make out her companions' silhouette.

"Good." Kýla nodded, sounding relieved.

"But I can also make us some light so we can both see," Raphtalia went on. "Here." she held up her hand to conjure a ball of magelight.

"No don't!" Kýla said quickly, snapping out a hand just to the right of where Raphtalia was actually standing.

"What?" Raphtalia blinked. "But you-"

She saw Kýla's silhouette shake its head. "No, listen; I've got a better idea. Use your night vision and when whatever that thing is attacks, throw a light in its face, alright?"

Raphtalia nodded. She was prepared to trust the martial artist's judgement.

"Raph?" Kýla said, her head turning one way then the other. "Are you still there?"

"Oh! Yes, sorry. I'm still here. I nodded."

"Okay."

Raphtalia turned her eyes upward and squinted into the gloom. Whatever was up there had fallen silent. So she'd need to keep an eye out for-

There!

Raphtalia's hand snapped out, and a ball of light lit up the gloom like a rising sun.

Several things happened in quick succession. The light illuminated the approaching shape, she caught a glimpse of an enormous pair of eyes and the curve of a jagged beak. The monstrous face jerked to the side as the light ignited, letting out a startled hoot as the brightness seared its eyes. Beside her, Kýla spun, whipping her arm in the direction of the light, her rock flew from her hand and hit the creature's eye with a meaty smack. The beast shrieked, losing all control over its flight as it tumbled toward them, but Raphtalia saw the curving points of two sets of talons reaching out to grab them.

"Get down!" Raphtalia yelled, tackling her companion. Kýla yelped as she was brought to the ground with Raphtalia on top of her. Raphtalia felt a rush of air as the monster zoomed overhead and crashed into the cliff face behind them.

"Raph, go!" Kýla yelled, shoving the demi-human back up to her feet. "Kill it!"

The order spurred her into motion; all she could see was the creature's fuzzy outline, but it was now or never. She leapt toward the middle of the mass, she felt the blade stab through a layer of feathers, then jerk as it bit into flesh. sword bite into flesh. Something screeched in her ears, nearly deafening her as she threw her weight onto the sword's hilt, driving it further into the mountain of feathers beneath her.

Her prey writhed, trying to buck her off, but the motion only let her drag the sword further through its body. Finally, the monster fell silent slumped to the ground. Raphtalia sunk to her knees, her heart thundering in her ears as her body pumped adrenaline.

"Did we get it, Raph?" Kýla's voice came out of the darkness after a few moments. "Raph?" she repeated, nervousness bleeding into the words when Raphtalia didn't immediately respond. "Come on, you have to tell me if we got it, I can't see anything."

Raphtalia swallowed, "Y-yeah." She got out. "We got it."

"Oh." Kýla sighed. "Good. I was worried there for a moment. You alright?"

"My ears are ringing, but I'll be fine. How about you?"

"I feel like I've still got all my bits, but, y'know, I can't actually see to make sure. Was it actually a giant owl? I couldn't see, I just threw the rock at the light.

"I think so." Raphtalia nodded, holding up a hand and igniting another ball of magelight.

"Gah!" Kýla shrieked, smacking her hands over her eyes. "Too bright! Warn a girl when you're about to do something like that!"

"Sorry!" Raphtalia hunched her shoulders as she dialed back the light to a softer glow, feeling a little bit stupid. Her own eyes were watering from the sudden light, but she could just make out the martial artist furiously grinding her knuckles into her eyes.

"So." Kýla said, after a few moments. "It looks like you got the monster. Again." She huffed. "When is it going to be my turn?"

Raphtalia glanced at the giant owl's head, its dead eyes reflecting the magelight in a particularly creepy way. Well, one of them was; the other looked less like an eye and more like a puddle of jelly from how hard Kýla's rock had hit it. "I'd say it was more of a team effort."

"Uh huh." Kýla grunted. "I hate fighting in the dark." Kýla groaned. "I'm always tripping over things and I can't get any satisfaction from seeing what I'm beating up."

"Then why didn't you want me to make a light immediately?" Raphtalia asked curiously. "Weren't you frightened?" When she'd been growing up in the village, there had been a few of the older demi-humans who loved to tell stories of how helpless humans were in the dark.

"Maybe a bit," the monk shrugged. "But, again, I've trained for this kind of thing. Have you never had to keep watch for monsters at night?" Kýla asked.

"Um… no." When Naofumi had first bought her, he'd always done that. Then, once Filo had hatched, monsters never seemed to bother them at night. Maybe they could tell that Filo would see them as a midnight snack.

"I have." Kýla answered. "When you've made camp, the stupidest thing you can do is sit by the campfire and stare out into the night. It ruins your night vision so you can't see anything beyond the firelight. If you had made a light ball between us, we both would have been able to see our surroundings, but you wouldn't have been able to see the monster coming."

Raphtalia blinked. "I, um, never thought of that. How do you know all this stuff?"

"Experience, how else?" Kýla answered, "Try being an adventurer for a few years _without_ a Cardinal Hero to beat up any monster that gets close. Trust me, the first time you wake up to a balloon about to chew your face off you get motivated to learn what not to do _really _quickly."

Raphtalia stared at Kýla for a moment, then nodded. That made sense. Now that she thought about it. She really was an amateur adventurer—so were Filo and even Naofumi. Together they'd been able to overcome anything that came their way thank to the stat buffs given by the shield. But Raphtalia couldn't help but wonder how different those early days would have been if they'd had someone like Kýla in their party.

Raphtalia frowned. She couldn't help but feel that Kýla was wasted on Ren. No doubt he never asked her for advice on anything.

"But let's not just stand around," Kýla said. "We've got a mountain to finish climbing." She added sourly. "I bet you its gonna make us climb the rest of the mountain in the dark too."

"That seems to be the case." Raphtalia nodded. "I would have thought that the lights would come back on once we defeated the monster."

"Maybe they will." Kýla answered. "Maybe there's going to be more than one." Raphtalia paused, suddenly very aware of the ball of magelight in her hand and how she couldn't see anything beyond the edge of its light. If another owl attacked them right now…

"Um…" she glanced toward the light. Should she put it out? But then Kýla wouldn't be able to climb toward the exit. The monk followed her gaze and her shoulders fell as she seemed to pick up on Raphtalia's train of thought.

"Oh." Kýla grunted. "Well. We can't just wait here for something else to attack us, we'll be here forever. I don't suppose you could make more than one of those? Light up our path ahead of us in case anything is lying in wait?"

"I… think I can." Raphtalia nodded.

"Then let's do that and get moving." Kýla sighed. If something attacks us, we'll deal with it." The monk shook her head mournfully. "I'm gonna be honest with ya, Raph. I'm really starting to get sick of this place."

"Me too." Raphtalia nodded gloomily. Hopefully this would be one of the last rooms they'd need to get through.

* * *

"Balloon Party!" Naofumi called, there was a series of pops as a group of balloons appeared before the freakishly muscular monster. The strongman smirked as the balloons leapt toward him, stretching out his arms and letting all of them bite down on him. Then it brought its arms back together, gathering the balloons into a bundle in front of him. It leered at Naofumi as it slowly began to squeeze the balloons.

Naofumi threw out his arm, "Cactus Shield!" he called, his shield flashed as it morphed into a green flat disk covered in spines. "Needle Party!"

The balloons glowed just before the strongman popped them and they all exploded, shooting out burst of spikes in every direction. The monster bellowed, staggering backward, needles jutting out of every inch of skin.

Ren activated his dash skill, circling behind the creature and leapt upward. "Assassin's Strike!" He screamed, stabbing outward and sinking the blade into the back of the monster's head. It jerked, then fell forward and moved no more.

Ren jumped off the corpse. He rarely used that skill. It dealt double damage, but only if the enemy wasn't focused on him and he struck it from behind—not exactly useful when someone played solo, but he'd needed to get around the stat debuff somehow.

"Finally." Naofumi groaned.

"Since when can you booby trap your balloons like that?" Ren asked.

"Since just now when I tried it." Naofumi answered.

"Seems overpowered." Characters that could summon helpers always tended to be a little broken.

Naofumi rolled his eyes. "Whatever, it drained a lot of SP."

Then they heard someone clapping, and they both spun to see the imp ringmaster standing on top of its three-headed lion. The beast was laying on its stomach and hadn't budged since it had appeared, but it had been keeping an eye on each of them with one of its heads.

The ringmaster tipped its top hat to them and grinned, dramatically raising the bell it had used to summon the circus monsters over its head.

"Rope Shield!" There was a whipping noise as a long rope shot out of Naofumi's shield. The rope wrapped around the bell and the imp's eyes went wide. It tried to ring the bell, but the sound came out muffled by the rope. Naofumi jerked his arm back and the bell was wrenched from the imp's hand.

Naofumi caught the bell in his right hand and held it over his shield. The green gem embedded in the shield glowed and the bell vanished.

"No more friends for you." Naofumi grunted, glaring at the imp. "Fight us yourself."

The imp glared at him. It stomped its foot, making the lion beneath it blink and climb to its feet. Then the imp lifted one of its hand and snapped its claws. There was a sound like a dozen swords being drawn from their scabbards and a number of blades materialized in the air above it. They hovered in place; their tips pointed at each of them like a swarm of metal bees.

"Fantastic." Naofumi groaned.

"Naofumi, you focus on the lion. I'm gonna kill that imp." Ren said.

"Whatever."

* * *

Galdur's eyes flickered open, and he immediately regretted it. He was laying face down in the dirt and his back felt like it was on fire.

But … he _wasn't_ dead. So that was nice.

His right hand was stretched out in front of him, and his left was awkwardly pinned beneath him, shoved into one of his pockets. He clenched his fist, feeling the band of green scales he'd twined around them.

He let out a sigh of relief. He hadn't had the time to properly equip the accessory, so he'd been worried that he wouldn't be able to access its regeneration properties.

But he hadn't bled out, so it must have had _some_ effect.

He tightened his grip on the band and he tried to prop himself up with his right arm so he could extract the hydra band from his pocket. His back screamed in protest, flaying him with white hot lashes of agony. But he persevered, he needed to get the band around his neck so that he could have the full benefit of its healing powers.

He managed to get his hand out of his pocket before his arm gave out, and he collapsed on top of his arm, pinning it to the ground.

_Should have… should have equipped the damn thing the moment I got it. _

Well, maybe he could get Filo to put it on for him. He hoped she'd be gentle about it; she didn't strike him as having the most delicate touch.

His eyes went wide.

Filo!

Where was the Filolial? Why hadn't she finished him off? Was she alright? He'd left her all alone with that demonic rodent!

He turned his attention away from the pain in his back and tried to listen to his surroundings. There was a fight going on nearby, if the angry screeches were anything to go by.

He twisted his head around, blinking groggily, he could make out two blurs darting around nearby, one white and one orange. The blobs of color kept slamming into each other as he watched. He blinked again, trying to bring the blurs into focus.

It took longer than he would have liked, the blood loss was _not_ doing anything for his cognitive functioning, but he was pretty sure the white blur was Filo and… oh. The orange one was a giant squirrel. Probably Ratatoskyr; he looked a lot bigger than Galdur remembered.

He sighed in relief, wincing as the movement sent a fresh wave of pain through him. If Filo was trying to kill the damned rodent, then she must have realized what was going on. Or maybe the squirrel had said something wrong and set her off. Either way, it shouldn't be long before she killed it. Hopefully then she'd be calm enough to help him.

He watched the filolial dash towards the squirrel, claws outstretched to cut it to shreds. The squirrel's body blurred as it leapt upward, somersaulting through the air to land on the bird's back as she passed. Ratatoskyr's head whipped forward, mouth wide to sink a pair of enormous fangs into the bird's neck. There was a poof of smoke, and Ratatoskyr tumbled as Filo shifted back to human form beneath him. She grabbed two fistfuls of his bushy tail and spun, swinging the squirrel around and tossing him toward the trunk of the giant tree.

As the girl leapt toward the tree, ready to finish the job, the squirrel darted upward, racing up the enormous trunk as though it were level ground. Filo poofed back into her true form and darted after it, her talon leaving imprints on the thick bark.

"Monsters." Galdur muttered. "I am surrounded by monsters."

His eyelids felt heavy and he let them shut. There was nothing he could do to help with that fight at the moment.

It was a little while later, he wasn't sure how long, before the sound of screeches returned. He opened his eyes just in time to see something slam into the ground in front of him, sending up a fountain of dust.

Galdur hissed as the dirt touched his back, but there was nothing he could do to move away. There was something rising from the dust cloud, a furred head with pointed ears. He swallowed as he met Ratatoskyr's eyes, the pupils were mismatched dots of manic red that seemed to radiate a furious madness. The squirrel looked worse for wear, gashes ran along his body and one of his ears was torn off. The squirrel rose on trembling paws and made to move before something else came plummeting out of the sky.

Filo slammed into Ratatoskyr's back like a meteor. The squirrel screamed, something crunched, and the oversized rodents head thumped against the ground, its eyes losing their manic gleam as they glazed over. The dust began to settle, and Galdur got a proper look at his erstwhile companion. Filo didn't look so great herself, some of her feathers were stained with blood and others were missing entirely. More than that, she looked exhausted. Her chest heaved as she took in gulps of air, glaring down at the rodent beneath her.

"That's what you…" Filo panted, her wings drooping nearly to the ground. "Get…you… you liar!"

"G-good job," Galdur coughed. Filo went stiff and spun toward him. When she saw him looking at her. Her eyes went wide and she dashed toward him.

"Wizard Guy!" Filo exclaimed, "You're alive! Filo didn't murder you!"

"Not… not yet," Galdur nodded, wincing as movement sent a fresh wave of pain over him.

Filo poofed back into human shape and hovered over him. "Wizard Guy…" she said. "Filo's sorry, she didn't—"

"It's fine." Galdur said, interrupting her. He wasn't sure if it actually was fine, but that was not a discussion that was important right now. "Filo, listen to me. Are you listening?"

The girl nodded frantically, her eyes wide and uncertain.

"There's a green band around my left hand. I need you to take it off and wrap it around my neck as quickly as you can. I'm too weak to do it myself."

Filo crouched over him, her hands reaching out but hesitating. "Will that help you?"

"Yes." Galdur coughed. "Please do it quickly."

Filo nodded and put her hand on his shoulder. She slowly tilted his body up and pulled his pinned arm out. It was evident that she was _trying_ to be gentle, but he still had to grit his teeth against the pain of movement. He closed his eyes as she fumbled with the band, and then she had it around his neck.

The effect was immediate.

The pain began to ebb, and he could almost feel his skin knitting itself back together.

"Wow." Filo blinked. "Wizard Guy, you're healing!"

"Yes." He hissed, shuddering. The pain may have been receding, but it was being replaced by an almost unbearable itchiness. It was all he could do to resist the urge to roll onto his back and scrape it against the ground.

It was several minutes before the sensation stopped. Galdur let his body relax, slumping into the floor.

"Wizard Guy…"

"I'll be fine now, Filo." He murmured, already starting to slip away from consciousness. "I just need to…sleep. While I'm doing that, can you find the exit to this place?"

"Leave it to Filo!"

"Great." Galdur closed his eyes, feeling sleep stealing over him as he heard Filo moving away. His nose was pressing into the layer of moss carpeting the ground.

It smelled nice.

S&DS&DS&DS&D

**Hoo boy, this chapter did not want to be written. Filo's scene really kicked my butt. I knew what I wanted it to be. I wanted Filo to be totally under Ratatoskyr's influence, until he tried to tell her a lie that was so untrue, so fundamentally against her entire understanding of the world, that she snapped out of it.**

**In other words, him telling her that Naofumi would abandon her. The way I see it, there is no way Filo would believe it. The very idea is laughable. **

**I'm not sure if my execution of the idea was that good, but here we are. **


	9. Never Don't Un-split the Part

**And we're back.**

**So one thing that is kind of funny to me is that at no point have I described what Kýla or Galdur look like. Their looks are based on an image seen for, like, one seconds during one of the anime's opening, where it shows Ren and his unnamed companions behind him. (If you're interested, just google 'shield Ren's companions' and go to images, it should be the first image)**

**Based on that image, Kýla should have green hair. But it feels weird to bring it up now in the story. I… probably should have mentioned that in the FIRST chapter. Oops. **

**Chapter 9: Never Don't Un-Split the Party**

S&DS&DS&DS&D

Raphtalia leapt back as a clubbed tail whipped towards her, cracking the ground on impact. The monster, some kind of giant anteater thing covered in plate-like scales, hissed; tossing its head and flailing in every direction as it tried to dislodge Kýla. The martial artist had jumped onto its back and was straddling it, her legs locked around its neck. Kýla had wrenched several of the scales apart and was driving her spiked fist into the base of the creature's neck over and over again. The beast jerked with meaty smack its flailing turning frantic as blood began to pour from the wound until it grew sluggish and slumped to the ground.

"Finally!" Kýla cheered, pumping her fist into the air. "About time I managed to get the kill!"

"Good for you." Raphtalia grinned, moving toward the beast and grabbing the hilt of her sword. She'd tried to stab it in its underbelly. She'd aimed for a space between the scales, but the monster had twisted the moment the blade bit flesh and the sword had been twisted from her fingers. It took several yanks to tear the blade free, and she quickly looked it over for damage. It didn't appear to be cracked, which was lucky. She shook her head; she shouldn't have bothered using her physical sword on such an armored opponent, that's what the mana blade was for. But the creature had been charging her and she hadn't had the time to extract the magical blade from her pocket. She really needed to find a more accessible sheath for it—a bit of tricky thing for a sword that had an intangible blade.

"You good to keep going?" Kýla asked, climbing down.

"Of course."

Raphtalia glanced around cautiously as they stepped into the next the room, but there was no enemy to be seen. It was circular, flat, and not particularly big. There were several chests off to one side, and a pool of steaming water on the other.

"_Welcome, Companions of the Heroes."_

They both looked up at the voice, a golden ball of light had materialized and was hovering in the center of the chamber. Raphtalia shared a suspicious look with Kýla.

"Hello Ragna." Raphtalia said cautiously. "So what's this place? Have we finished the trial?"

"_Negative."_

"Of course not." Kýla huffed.

_"However, only one trial remains."_

"That's good news, at least." Raphtalia sighed. "May we go ahead and start it? I'd rather get this whole thing over with."

The ball of light flashed. "_You may. However, it is recommended that you wait for the Heroes and other companions to join you._"

Raphtalia's ears perked up. "What? You mean Master Naofumi is going to join us here?"

"_The final trial was designed to be fought by the full parties of all participating Heroes. As such, this room will be allow the option to reunite before facing it. As was explained in the tutorial."_

Raphtalia furrowed her brow. "You never explained any such thing."

"We accidently skipped the tutorial, remember?" Kýla sighed.

"Oh yeah..."

_"It is recommended that you rest in this chamber of repose. The healing pool can be used to recover your stamina."_

"A bath." Kýla said, perking up. "I'm sold."

Raphtalia nodded slowly. If this final challenge was meant to be taken on by both of their complete parties, then it would probably be far too much for the two of them to handle alone. Hopefully it wouldn't be too long before the rest of their party joined them.

* * *

Ren charged, heading straight for the imp. The monster waved its claws and the few swords still floating in the air shot towards him like hornets. He ignored them, and the blades bounced off a yellow barrier materialized over his head. That Air Strike Shield of Naofumi's was so broken, the first thing Ren was going to do once he got out of this damn place was find a rope to feed his sword.

But that was for later. Right now, the imp _needed_ to die.

The fight had been going on for far too long. The three-headed lion had been a joke, but the imp ringmaster was every bit as annoying as he'd feared it would be. Whenever he managed to land a hit, the little pest just vanished in a puff of smoke or burst into a cloud of doves or did some other ridiculous thing. But not _this_ time. Naofumi had finally made himself useful and managed to hit the thing with that Soul Eater shield of his. It hadn't summoned any more flying swords or thrown an exploding bouquet of flowers, so it had to be out of SP.

And without its magic tricks… he was on it in seconds, sword swinging in to end this, the imp desperately clicked its claws together, but all that came out was a small puff of blue smoke.

Then it was in pieces.

Ren stood still over, glaring at the bisected demon, waiting for it to leap up and stick its tongue out or something. But instead it disintegrated, making him clutch his sword tighter in anticipation for whatever trick was coming. There was a series of clanks and rattling, and Ren looked up to see the chains and padlocks covering the exit doorway were popping off and falling to the ground. He breathed a sigh of relief, that probably meant the imp was _finally_ dead.

"Finally," Naofumi groaned, making Ren look back. The shield hero was lying on the ground, grumpily trying to unwind several strands of colored handkerchiefs from around his legs. Around him, the remains of the monsters and circus freaks the imp had summoned were disintegrating.

Ren grunted in disgust. That meant he wouldn't even be able to unlock any new swords from them. He bent down and snatched the imp's top hat off the ground—it was the only thing that remained, hopefully he could get s_ome_ benefit from it. He held the tiny piece of headgear close to his sword, which glowed and suck it in. His sword began to shrink, shifting into a slender black cylinder with a white tip.

**Trick Wand Sword Unlocked**

** Active Effect: Enhances item effectiveness, All direct attack skills weakened**

** Active Skill: Now, For My Next Trick! –Immediately use item from your inventory on selected target. **

** Passive Effect: +4 Dexterity, +3 Speed**

Ren stared blankly at the screen.

"What's it do?" Naofumi called, finally climbing to his feet. Ren repeated the text. "Oh, I get it." Naofumi nodded. "It could let you use a potion on someone from a distance," he frowned thoughtfully. "Or I suppose if you had a vial of poison…yeah." He nodded. "I can think of plenty of ways to use that."

"We're in a world were _actual _mages exists." Ren said flatly, glaring at the 'sword'. "And this lets me… _pretend_ to be one."

"Well," Naofumi replied, raising an eyebrow at him. "Have you learned how to use any of the _actual_ magic?"

"No. I have a low magic stat, and the unlock mechanics require too much work to offer any significant return."

"So…what's the problem? Doesn't that make this sword perfect for you."

"It doesn't up my damage." Ren answered, shifting his sword back into its base form and sheathing it. "It's a gimmick form, added for flavor."

"If you say so." Naofumi sighed, dropping the subject.

"You absorbed the imp's bell, what did that unlock?"

"Hmm? Oh, I didn't have time to check." Naofumi raised his hand and scrolled through his menu. "Bell Shield…" he muttered, squinting at his screen. "Looks like a support shield. It lets me temporarily buff my companion's stats… not mine, though."

Ren shook his head—at least Naofumi hadn't gotten a ridiculously good skill—and made for the door.

* * *

Raphtalia sighed as she let her legs sink into the steaming spring. It was piping hot, just on the cusp of being painful, but falling on the side of pleasure instead. She could practically feel the tension in her legs being washed away by the heat. Kýla had gone a step further, stripping off her red gi, leaving nothing but plain white undergarments, before jumping into the water.

Personally, Raphtalia didn't feel comfortable going that far, not while they still had a big fight ahead of them—her tail took _forever_ to dry. But she did scoop up some of the water and tried to scrub away some of the stains still clinging to her armor and skin.

"So Raph," Kýla said, her skin flushed from the heat as she propped herself on the side of the pool. "I've been wondering; do you have ears?"

"…Excuse me?" Raphtalia answered, glancing at the martial artist.

"Ears." Kýla repeated, looking up at her expectantly. "Do you have them?" Wordlessly, Raphtalia flicked her ear with the enchanted earring. Kýla rolled her eyes. "Not those ones. Obviously, I know you have those. I mean ears like mine." She pointed to the side of her head. "I've seen Demi-humans without animal ears before. Do you have four ears or not? Your hair is so thick I can't tell."

"…How long have you been wondering about this?"

"Definitely not since I first met you."

"I have just the two." Raphtalia answered flatly, uncertain if she should be offended or not. She was spared from having to decide by the sound of the door opening, Raphtalia climbed to her feet as she turned, then smiled at the sight.

"Filo!"

"Big Sis!" The happy shout was accompanied by a white blur made a beeline for her.

"Filo, wait!" Raphtalia threw out her arms as the blur leapt into the air and hit her at chest height. Raphtalia's eyes widened as the impact sent her stumbling backward. But before they could both go careening backward into the pool, something solid caught her around the lower back her back, stopping her fall before shoving her back up to her feet. Raphtalia shot Kýla a grateful look. The martial artist smiled and nodded, then climbed out of the pool, threw her gi back on, and walked across the chamber to greet her own party member.

Raphtalia turned her attention back towards the bundle of energy in her arms. Filo looked a little the worse for wear; her face was covered in dirt and grime, and it looked like she was missing a chunk of hair, but she was smiling so she was probably fine.

"Hey Filo, how are you?"

"Great!" the filolial beamed. "She fought a giant frog with two heads!"

"Is that right?"

"Yeah! It hit Filo with one of its tongues and it was all sticky and gross. Filo tried, but no matter how she pulled on it wouldn't tear. Then started to pull her in to eat her to, but Wizard Guy shot a fireball down its throat and it exploded." She threw her arms up, presumably to mimic the rain of toasted frog guts that had accompanied the event. "It was lots of fun." The girl looked around. "Where's master?"

"He's not here yet." Raphtalia answered. "He's still completing his own challenges."

"Wow, master must be really slow." Filo giggled.

"Galdur! What the hell happened to your back?"

Raphtalia glanced upwards. Kýla had one hand on the wizard's shoulder and had spun him around. The back of the wizard's cloak was one large, rust-colored stain broken up by two sets of tears running from his shoulders to the small of his back. Just the sight of it made Raphtalia wince in sympathy; she could only imagine how much that must have hurt.

A sudden lack of movement made her look down. Filo had gone quiet, her grip on Raphtalia's shoulder had tightened, and she was staring resolutely at the ground.

"Well…" Galdur said, awkwardly filling the silence as he glanced toward Filo, his eyes met Raphtalia's for a moment before flicking away. "It was…a giant squirrel."

Filo started, squirming in Raphtalia's grip to stare at the wizard.

"Really?" Kýla said flatly. "A giant squirrel?"

"Oh, don't you start with me." The man groaned. "I assure you; it was more dangerous than it sounds."

"It was Filo's fault!" Filo blurted. "She told Wizard Guy she'd keep him safe from the monsters." Her body sagged in Raphtalia's arms. "She failed."

"Well..." Galdur sighed. "It was hardly either of our best moments. But I've recovered. I'll need a new cloak, mind you, but I'm alive and the squirrel is dead, so…" he shrugged, glancing at Kýla. "What about you? Did you have any trouble? What are those green stains on your gi?"

"Spider guts." Kýla answered cheerfully.

The man's face scrunched up in disgust. "I'm sorry I asked," he looked around. "So—"

There was a creaking noise as the door opened again and Raphtalia felt her heart rise as she saw Naofumi step into the room. He was scowling, his shield held high as he scanned the room. But then his eyes met hers, and the visible wave of relief that spread across his face when he saw her made her heart melt. She opened her mouth to greet him.

"MASTER!" Filo cried, gleefully using Raphtalia as a springboard to herself toward the Shield Hero. Raphtalia gasped, her arm wind milling to keep herself from falling back into the hot spring. By the time she'd recovered her balance, Filo was already in Naofumi's arms, chattering happily about her adventures at a hundred miles a minute.

Raphtalia scowled—why did Filo always have to have his immediate attention? —but pushed the feeling down as she stepped forward to greet her Hero. He looked even more tired than usual, his expression glassy-eyed as Filo's chatter washed over him. As she approached, she noticed that his armor was stained a reddish brown from the chest downward.

"Master Naofumi!" she exclaimed. "Your armor! Are you hurt?"

"Hmm?" he glanced absentmindedly down at himself. "Oh. No, it's not blood. It's rukor fruit juice." He shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it. Hopefully Erhard can get the stains out." He looked back at her and smiled. "What about you?" he asked looking her up and down, frowning when he saw the stains and scuffs on her armor.

"I'm fine!" Raphtalia said quickly. "I will admit there were difficulties, but nothing I that couldn't handle." He didn't need to know about her getting poisoned…twice.

Naofumi hesitated, looking into her eyes for a moment, before nodding. "Glad to hear it." His gaze shifted a little higher. "New earring?"

"Oh," Raphtalia swallowed. She'd grown accustomed to the weight by now and forgotten about it. She repressed the urge to cover it with one hand, as she was pretty sure that would make her look childish. "Um… yes. It's enchanted. I got it from a chest."

"Hmm." Naofumi considered it for a moment, then smiled. "It suits you."

Raphtalia _almost_ managed to keep her face from going red. But the smug look Kýla was giving her from behind Naofumi's back wasn't helping and she could feel her face heating up. "T-thank you, Master Naofumi. I'm glad you think so."

She'd never take it off. Even if the thumbs up Kýla was giving her was embarrassing.

She leaned closer to Naofumi. "So," she whispered. "How was working with Ren?"

Naofumi hesitated. "It…could have been worse." He admitted. "Guy's still a jackass, but we didn't kill each other. We even had a heart to heart about cooperating."

"Really? That's great news!"

"I guess." Naofumi sighed, shooting her a half smile. "Still, I'm glad to have _my_ sword back."

Raphtalia was pretty sure her heart skipped a beat. She opened her mouth, not sure what she was going to say. But it needed to be something sweet. Something equally affectionate, something that conveyed her joy of being at his side once more.

"HEY!" the indignant screech shattered the moment into a million pieces. "What about Filo?"

"Yeah." Naofumi sighed, wincing at the volume as he looked down at the tiny girl in his arms. "It's good to have you back too, Filo."

Raphtalia glowered at the bird. Couldn't the overgrown chicken let her have _anything?_

"Naofumi!" Ren barked, moving closer.

"Yeah?" Naofumi looked around. "What is it now?"

"My party members have informed me that there's only one more challenge left. It's going to be the final boss."

"Is that right?" Naofumi asked, glancing back at her. Raphtalia nodded.

"Then we're almost done." Naofumi yawned. "About time."

"Yes, so let's get going." Ren said.

"I don't know about you, but I'm taking a moment to rest." Naofumi answered flatly, plopping Filo down and taking a seat beside her. To Raphtalia's displeasure, the bird promptly climbed into his lap—not that she was jealous.

"Are you serious?" Ren demanded.

"Are _you _serious about rushing off to face the boss fight right this second?" Naofumi shot back. "C'mon, Ren, we may have restored our Health and SP, but I need ten minutes for a mental break. Don't pretend you couldn't use one to."

The Sword Hero looked away, not denying it. "I suppose." He said at length. "Taking some time to put together a strategy now that we're all together couldn't hurt, especially considering how annoying the fights have been so far."

"That's the spirit."

"There's some food in the chests over there, master." Raphtalia piped up. "Would you like me to fetch you some?"

"That would be great." He smiled at her. "Could you grab some for Filo too?"

"No thanks." Filo said, yawning. "Filo's not hungry."

Naofumi and Raphtalia blinked, as one their heads snapped down to stare at the transformed filolial.

"Filo?" Naofumi said, his voice carrying just a hint of alarm. "Are you feeling alright?"

"She's been eating her fill of monster meat the last couple rooms." Galdur supplied, coming back from the storage chests with pieces of fruit. "I assure you, she's been well fed."

"Squirrel is tasty." Filo murmured, her eyes shutting as she drifted off to sleep in Naofumi's lap.

"…Alright then, more for us I guess." Naofumi shrugged, looking back up at Raphtalia. "Would you mind?"

"Of course not." She answered immediately, moving over to the chests and scooping up several strips of dried meet—not exactly height of flavor, but they were filling.

"I expect the boss will be a single large enemy." She heard Ren say as she came back. "It appears all of our mini-boss fights were just that, I shouldn't expect it would mix up the formula now. However, it may summon minions. If that happens, we should leave them to our party members so you and I can focus our efforts on the boss."

"No." Naofumi answered. "If that happens, Raphtalia should join you in focusing on the boss. Her direct damage output is higher than mine, especially if it's a type of enemy where I can't use counter skills. Filo's mobility can have her attack either the boss or minions as needed."

"I see," Ren said thoughtfully. "In that case, I recommend you hang back and cover Galdur. He can deal high DPS, but only if someone keeps the mobs off him. You can still support the attackers with your Air Strike Shield and that Bell Shield you unlocked."

Raphtalia stood still, looking back and forth between the Heroes as they continued to talk tactics.

What… what was happening?

"Oh thank god, it's not just me who thinks this is weird." Raphtalia glanced at Kýla. The martial artist was leaning against the wall, an apple in hand as stared at the Heroes with a bemused expression. "In the past five months I've worked with Lord Ren, all the strategizing he's done with us could be summed up as: 'I'm going in, follow me.'"

"Naofumi often discusses battle plans with us," Raphtalia answered. "But I've never seen him speak with one of the Heroes for this long without yelling."

"Must have gotten it out of their systems in the first few rooms." Kýla mused, taking a bite out of the apple. "Bet the sparks were flying then."

Raphtalia nodded, smiling as she watched Naofumi speak to his fellow Hero. She would gladly stand by his side, no matter what danger they faced. But she wasn't a Cardinal Hero, so she knew there would only be so much of a difference she could make. But if the other Heroes could truly be brought around to work together to support him…

Raphtalia smiled.

It was a hopeful thing. Not just for Master Naofumi, but for the world.

S&DS&DS&DS&D

**So I ship Naofumi and Raphtalia, you can tell by the way I immediately separated them for seven chapters so that they couldn't interact in any way…wait a second…uh…oops.**

**I may not be the best at writing shipfics, I must admit. I'm drawn more to violent conflict. Speaking of… Boss fight.**


	10. Sword and Shield and Bow and Spear

**This took a while, because I got a summer job and that takes up quite a bit of time I'd use for writing. Then when I could write, I had trouble because a team of six is a lot harder to write than a team of two. No wonder I split the party so early. **

**So who here has played the various Dark Souls games? I have. I felt like I was channeling that for the boss fight. It seemed appropriate. **

**For those of you who haven't played dark souls, think of it as a game filled with tons of overpowered anime protagonists, where the only problem is that your character isn't one of them. **

**Chapter 10: Sword and Shield & Bow and Spear**

S&DS&DS&DS&D

Naofumi peeked through the door, shield at the ready to in case something with entirely too many teeth tried to take his head off. When nothing happened, he stepped through. The final room had to be the plainest one yet, merely a large, circular space. The only remarkable feature was an iron portcullis blocking off the exit.

"I'm not seeing anything." He called back.

"Of course not." Ren snorted, throwing the door open and stepping up next to him. "The boss won't come out until we are all out in the open."

"Uh huh," Naofumi nodded as the rest of their companions trickled in. They'd finally decided on a plan. Ren and Raphtalia would play offense, with Filo backing them up. Meanwhile it would be his and Kýla's job to draw the monster's attacks. He glanced at the green-haired martial artist. He wasn't particularly keen about letting someone he knew nothing about back him up. But Raphtalia had assured him that Kýla was good, and he had complete confidence in her judgement. Then Galdur would hang back and play support.

It was a decent, straightforward plan. One he fully expected to go up in flames the moment the fight started, but at least they hadn't had to argue it out too much. Once they neared the center of the chamber, the door crashed shut behind them. Naofumi rolled his eyes, that might have been intimidating if every chamber in this damn place didn't do that.

Then the room filled with the sound of grinding metal and the iron portcullis began rise. As the gate climbed higher, a mist began to swirl out into the room from the dark space beyond. As the gate lurched to a stop, its sound was replaced by a noise of hoofbeats and clanking armor.

"Hmm." Ren grunted. "I'll give them points for an appropriately dramatic entrance."

A figure emerged from the mist, a horse with a human torso clad in gleaming golden armor. It stood taller than Filo, and its face was hidden by a crested helmet with a black slit where its eyes should be. In its hands it clutched a golden lance with a spearhead wider than his shield.

"Finally." Ren said, raising his sword. "A serious enemy."

The sound of hooves filled the air again, though the centaur stood motionless, and a second figure appeared from the gloom. Its body was more slender than the first, clad in lighter armor that shone silvery-white in the gloom. Its helmet only covered the front half of its face, the back of its head was covered in a bush of messy hair crowned by a pair of antlers and it clutched an ivory bow in its hands.

"Hey Ren." Naofumi said.

"…"

"There's two of them, Ren."

"Oh, shut up."

"That's more than one, Ren."

Ren's response was cut off as the centaur reared up, front hooves lashing the air as it spun its weapon as though it was weightless. The tip of its spear ignited, and the monster swung it two-handed, sending a wave of fire swirling toward them. Naofumi threw up an Air Strike Shield and the wave of fire broke over it.

"I'm taking out the ranged one first." Ren said, darting away as the centaur charged.

"Right! Chimera Viper Shield!" He held the green shield aloft as the centaur reached him. The monster's spear shattered the Air Strike Shield like glass and crashed into his shield. The impact of the blow sent him back on his heels, but it didn't penetrate his shield. His weapon began to glow, and a pair of serpents extended from it as the counter skill activated. The snakes struck out at the centaur. The boss monster didn't flinch back. One hand whipped up to grab one of the snakes before it could bite and crushing it to pulp. The other snake bit own on the centaur's shoulder, but there was a clink as its fangs rebounded off the armor.

The centaur swung the arm clutching the crushed snake around, trying to pull him off balance. But Naofumi immediately switched shields, making the serpents vanish—he'd learned his lesson after the strongman swung him around last time. Once more the centaur rode the slight change in momentum and rose up, lashing out with its front hooves. He took the brunt of it on his shield, locking his legs as the boss monster pushed all of its weight down on him. Then, its legs still locked against his shield, the centaur spun its spear around and stabbed downward toward his unprotected legs.

Naofumi grit his teeth, hoping his defense stat could tank the blow without blocking, but before the spear stabbed into his kneecap there was a flash of light as a bolt of lightning slammed into the centaur's face. The beast let out a panicked whinny as it lurched backward, helmet smoking as it cantered away. Naofumi glanced back, Galdur was behind him, wand outstretched. Naofumi met his eyes and nodded his thanks before turning his attention back as the monster wheeled back around. It didn't look particularly hurt, but that was fine. His job wasn't to kill it, just keep it busy while Raphtalia and the others dealt with bow monster.

The centaur raised its spear and the weapon changed, shifting into a glaive. Naofumi snorted. It had a fancy weapon, big deal. Didn't change the fact that he could tank anything the monster could throw at him.

Then something slammed into his shoulder from behind. Naofumi's turned his head as and saw the glowing shaft of an arrow jutting from his armor. Naofumi's eyes went wide, had he really been shot? And it had actually penetrated his defense stat?

He reached up to grab the shaft, his heartbeat thundering in his ears. But something was wrong, his hand moved with an unsettling slowness, all his limbs felt suddenly like they were made of lead, heavy and immovable.

**Warning! Status Ailment detected: Slow.**

Naofumi stared at the words on his screen, but then a blur of movement from the corner of his eye had him looking back. The centaur was charging him, but it was moving so much _faster_; its body was a blur and then it was on top of him. He'd lowered his shield when he'd reached for the arrow and the is shield Higlaive was swinging towards his neck faster than he'd ever be able to block.

* * *

Ren ducked into a slide just in time as an arrow shot through the space where his head had been, leaving a silvery trail of light in the air as it whistled past. The bow boss monster had immediately focused on him once he'd charged it.

Which was just fine—with his speed, there was no way any arrow would ever touch him, and now he had a chance to close the distance. He activated his dash skill once more and blitzed toward the deer-like centaur. First, he'd cut off one its unarmored legs, then when it was on the ground, he could finish it off. He leapt, sword swinging out.

Then a nova of silver light seared his eyes and his blade cut nothing but air. He hit the ground awkwardly and rolled back to his feet, swinging his sword wildly as he tried to blink away the spots. He squinted, eyes watering, and was just able to make out another streak flying through the air toward him. He raised his sword, but the shape was blurry, he wasn't sure he'd be able to block it.

He was saved when a brown fuzzy shape appeared next to him and cut the arrow out of the air. Naofumi's Demi-human companion—she'd been right behind him, had she managed to close her eyes before the flash?

"Where is it?" he barked.

"It's back over by the entrance." She answered. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." He snarled, dragging his hand across his eyes to attempt to get rid of the final spots. Through watery eyes he saw the demi-human hadn't lied. The cervitaur was standing by the entry door, calmly fitting another arrow to its bow.

He scowled. Of course. It could teleport. Why _not? _Why couldn't _anything_ in this wretched place stay still and let him cut them.

Then the cervitaur sent a gleaming silver arrow streaking through the air and into Naofumi's back.

* * *

Naofumi's eyes were locked on the gleam of the glaive's edge as it swung down on him. But before it could slice into him, a second blur of red and green dashed into sight. The blur slammed into the weapon, knocking it so the blade went over his head. The centaurs charge still bowled into him, knocking him backward. He hit the ground and slid, his mind trying to keep up with what was happening.

He'd been inflicted with a status ailment. Wasn't Ren supposed to be dealing with the bow one? How was letting it shoot him in the back dealing with it? He glanced back; the centaur had knocked him to Galdur's feet. The wizard's mouth was moving rapidly, the words coming out in a high-pitched rush as he reached down and placed a hand on Naofumi's shoulder.

"—Celerity!" the last word came out at normal speed and suddenly the world was moving correctly again. Naofumi blinked as the wizard hauled him to his feet.

"Shield," Galdur yelled. "Help Kýla!"

Naofumi blinked again and his mind snapped back into the present. Turning back to the centaur, that monk girl was darting around its swinging glaive. As the centaur swung its weapon around, Naofumi's arm shot out and he summoned an Air Strike Shield in its face. The sudden barrier took it by surprise, and it reared upward.

Kýla rushed forward, weaving between the lashing hooves and sinking her fists into the creature's unprotected underbelly before darting away again.

"Naofumi!" He glanced over and saw Ren rushing toward him. "Change of plans." Ren called. "The bow one can teleport."

Naofumi groaned. Why was it that literally _everything_ in here could do that? It had to be cheating.

"I won't be able to corner it." Ren went on. "You and Galdur keep it busy while I deal with the spear."

Naofumi bit back a snarl, now was _not_ the time. Raphtalia could handle an overgrown horse man. But not if she got hit with those slow arrows. He spun to around, searching for the bow monster, hand at the ready to throw up a shield if he saw another arrow flying towards anyone.

But the deer monster had its hands full—Filo had caught up with it. The filolial's body blurred and vanished as she put on a turn of speed, dodging another arrow and appearing over the monster's head.

Her talons sunk into its hindquarters and the creature jerked as Filo's weight bore it downward. But before Filo could do any more damage, the creature's humanoid torso twisted around and shot a glowing blue arrow point-blank into the filolial's chest.

Naofumi saw Filo's eyes go wide, and felt his fury rising as her wings flapping sluggishly as the monster kicked itself free. Another arrow, ebony and wickedly pointed, appeared on the bowstring as the monster drew a bead on the filolial.

"Shield prison!" Naofumi roared, and the black arrow threw up sparks as it crashed into the barrier of iron and chains.

"Firestorm!" Galdur shouted, and a circle of fire appeared around the bow monster. It reared as a pillar of fire rose to engulf it. Naofumi saw a flash of silver light within the fire and spun. The cervitaur had appeared on another side of the room, smoke rising from its armor as it drew back another arrow.

"Galdur, help Filo." Naofumi ordered, dismissing the shield prison.

"At once, Shield Hero." The wizard answered, rushing for the bird.

The cervitaur drew back its bow and shot its arrow into the ceiling. A ball of purple light appeared, pulsing with magic and then arrows started to fall like rain, advancing in a wave toward Filo and the wizard.

Naofumi's eyes narrowed as he raised his shield.

* * *

Raphtalia leapt into the air, summersaulting over the wave of fire that came roaring her way. She saw Ren, his sword crackling with electricity, slash at the monster as its spear was held out. The blade connected with the monster's armor, sending a surge of lightning across its body. It let out a pained whinny and punched out at the Sword Hero with an armored fist. Ren blocked the blow with the flat of his sword and went skidding backward from the force. The centaur brought its spear back around to stab at the Hero, but as it did so, Raphtalia and Kýla rushed in to flank it from opposite sides.

The centaur snorted, raising it front hooves and slamming them into the ground. A shockwave of fire erupted from the impact, slamming into her like an almost solid wave of heat and throwing her backward. She hit the ground and rolled with the blow, popping back onto her feet some distance from the monster. She saw Kýla and Ren had been similarly pushed back as the centaur raised its spear. The weapon glowed and began to reshape itself; the tip splitting into three points as it morphed into a trident.

It swung the weapon with both hands, a mass of fiery lines shot out from the prongs and arced toward Kýla and Ren, the lines twisted as they moved, weaving together and forming a glowing net that spread out to envelop the pair. Raphtalia saw Kýla's eyes widen. The monk was already on her feet; but beside her Ren was still finding his footing, one hand pressed to his eyes. Kýla crouched, pressing both hands against the Sword Hero's side and bodily hurling him to the side.

Then the net enveloped her, sending her crashing to the ground. The sight of it brought Raphtalia back to the destruction of her village, when the soldiers had come to enslave everyone she had ever known. They'd had no shortage of nets like that. She could still remember the sight of ropes spreading out like a cloud of arms as they descended on her, wrapping around her in a suffocating tangle—even someone as elusive as Kýla wouldn't be able to squirm her way out of that in time.

Things seemed to slow down as she charged. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears in time with the monster's hoofbeats, trident held high to spear the helpless monk. Her mind was on overdrive, she fought the urge to get between the monster and the fallen monk—she wasn't a shield, she would not be able to stop the centaur's charge.

She was a sword; she was meant to _attack. _So, when she got close, she leapt into the air—she wouldn't be able to maneuver off the ground, but the centaur wouldn't be able to trample her with its hooves either. The points of its trident were turned away from her, meaning it only had one way to attack at her. She watched as its hands slid along the shaft of the trident, lashing out at her with the butt, which she saw was shod with jagged strips of metal.

Sparks flew as her sword connected with the spear. She curled in her legs and pressed one hand against the flat of her blade and used it to summersault herself over the pair of weapons. She felt the hilt of her sword jerk in her grip, but she let it go. She had another weapon at the ready, one that wouldn't be bothered by the centaur's think plate mail. She clutched the hilt of the mana blade and willed it to ignite.

She was upside-down, hanging in midair and off balance, the blow was clumsy, but it hardly mattered. She lashed out with the mana blade, dragging it straight through the centaur's hip up through its shoulder in one furious strike.

The centaur let out a whinnying scream that rung in her ears as she slammed into its chest. She pushed off against it with one leg, sending herself away from it as she hit the ground. It was a hard landing, but her armor cushioned most of it and she tried to roll with the impact. Her tail scrapped painfully against the rocky floor but she managed to get back to her feet quickly enough.

The centaur had crashed ground, its four legs flailing at the air as it pressed a hand to its chest. Kýla was laying only a spear's length from it, cursing and tangled in the net as she tried to crawl away from the downed monster. She saw a streak of light come shooting her way and turned, but before it could strike her a yellow barrier materialized in midair, blocking the attack.

She didn't bother to look around. Master Naofumi was doing his part in keeping the bow monster off them, so she would do hers. She rushed the centaur, if she could get a few solid hits in while it was down, then they could finish it before it threw any other tricks at them.

The monster's head turned toward her as it climbed halfway to its feet, a glowing eye glaring at her from the slit in its helmet. Raphtalia smirked, she called on her magic and covered herself in a veil of light, vanishing from view.

The centaur lashed out, sending another wave of fire in her direction. She dove toward the ground, sliding underneath the flames and scooped up her sword from where it had fallen. Dodging around the flailing trident was easy. She might not have Kýla's skill, but Raphtalia knew how to take advantage of an opening.

She slipped between the monster's legs, and stabbed upward, sinking her sword halfway to the hilt in its unarmored underbelly. Then she lunged away, ripping the sword out and widening the wound as much as she could she could feel its blood spurt outward, showering her as it screamed.

She felt a wave of heat roll over her back as the monster let out a blast of fire in all directions, sending her off her feet. She rolled, sitting halfway up as she looked at the monster. It was on the ground once more, its horse legs kicking uselessly at the ground. But it had propped up its human torso upright with one hand, the other was pulled back, clutching its spear that had shifted into a javelin. Its burning gaze locked on her and she felt a flash of panic

It was too close! She was about get speared right into the ground, without so much of a prayer of getting away.

Then she saw a blur of blue movement and suddenly Ren was standing on the creature's back, his sword raised. "Assassin Strike!" he roared, stabbing his blade into the back of the monster's neck.

She saw the tip of the blade erupt from the crack between helmet and breastplate and the burning light beneath its helmet winked out. The javelin fell from nerveless fingers to clatter against the floor as it slumped to the ground.

"One down." Ren declared, pulling his sword free from the monster's corpse. He glanced at Raphtalia. "Help Kýla, I'm going to finish off the other one."

The swordsman didn't wait for her to respond, already moving off toward the last fight as Raphtalia frowned; she only took orders from one person… but she had hardly been going to leave her friend trapped in a net.

"Hey Raph." Kýla grinned, holding up a handful of netting for Raphtalia to cut. "Looks like you finally got to pull me out of the fire.

"I'm pretty sure the score is still one or two in your favor." Raphtalia pointed out.

"Get me out of this damn net and we'll call it even. What kind of boss monster throws nets at people?"

Raphtalia frowned. Kýla didn't even seem to care that Ren hadn't bothered to help her himself…she shook her head, now wasn't the time to think about that. She slid her blade into the bundle of rope and began to saw.

* * *

Naofumi spun around, only just making it as another blue arrow splintered into a spray of sparks against his shield.

It was official, he'd finally met a bow user more obnoxious than Itsuki.

He knew that Raphtalia was fighting somewhere behind him and his instincts screamed at him to keep an eye on her in case she needed him. But between using its bow to teleport and the almost constant stream of arrows, it was taking all his attention just to keep anyone else from getting shot. The chamber was already filled with Air Strike Shields, but the monster just found new angles to attack. It made him want to throw up a shield prison around everyone and be done with it, but that wouldn't do anything to end the fight.

He'd even tried a booby-trapped Balloon Party. But rather than stomping the balloons to death, the monster had just teleported away and wiped them out from a distance; making all the SP he'd spent on them a complete waste.

He _really_ needed to get himself some kind of direct ranged attack.

A white blur zipped passed him as Filo made another charge for the monster. Galdur had gotten Filo back in fighting shape, and the filolial was being much more careful about getting shot. But the cervitaur had learned as well, and it always ran the moment the filolial got close.

Naofumi saw Galdur thrust his wand at the bow monster and mouth something, a pair of spectral snakes materialized and threw their coils around the monster's hooves just as it began its pre-teleport glow. It vanished just before Filo reached it but took the snakes with it.

It reappeared on the far side of the chamber, rearing into the air as the snakes tightened their grip. It bucked, trying to throw the snakes away.

"Lightning bolt!" Galdur cried—the lack of the incantation means the spell would be weak; certainly, too weak to hurt the monster. But as the sizzling bolt of energy arced through the air,

But the lightning stuck, not the monster, but its bow. The bolt of energy surged into the weapon and the cervitaur jerked, dropping the bow as it suddenly glowed white hot. Naofumi blinked, normally it teleported the moment it was struck by anything. But if it needed the bow to do that… Naofumi smirked as he snapped out his hand.

"Shield prison!" Chains and slabs of iron materialized around the dropped bow and the monster paused, one arm outstretched toward its lost weapon.

"Filo!" Naofumi called, but he needn't have bothered. The monster barely had time to glance up before the bird was on top of it. Slashing out with armored claws and tearing the cervitaur to ribbons.

Naofumi kept his eyes on the spectacle, ready in case the boss had any last tricks to pull. But without the bow, it seemed to have nothing left. It attempted to whip out an arrow and stab the filolial, but Filo grabbed the arrow in her beak and slashed out yet again with her talons. It didn't take long after that. Filo stepped away from the unmoving monster and screeched in triumph.

"Oh." Naofumi glanced over and saw Ren standing nearby. "It's over."

"Looks like it." Naofumi sighed, running a hand through his hair. That fight had been annoying, but nothing he couldn't handle. Not with Filo and Raphtalia backing them up. Or, well… He glanced back toward Galdur and nodded to the wizard. "Thanks for your help."

Galdur bowed. "It was my pleasure, Shield Hero."

Naofumi nodded, making a mental note to find a wizard for his own party. Then blinked, realizing he was forgetting something. "Raphtalia?" he called.

"Right here, Master." Naofumi spun around and saw the demi-human approaching closer, the martial artist by her side. He looked her over, her armor was singed, and she looked tired, but she looked unhurt. He let out the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.

"You have any trouble?" he asked.

"As if," Kýla snorted. "You should have seen her, Shield Hero." She nudged Raphtalia with her elbow. "Raph was on fire." She smirked, "almost literally."

"I believe it." Naofumi answered, giving Raphtalia and earnest smile. "Sorry I wasn't there to back you up. But I knew you could handle it."

"I, um..." Raphtalia swallowed, her ears perking upright. "T-thank you, master. I—"

"Hey! What about Filo? She took down one of the monsters too!" Naofumi reached out and patted the filolial on the head.

"Yeah, Filo. You too. You're a regular force of nature." He said, smiling at the girl. He glanced back at Raphtalia, whose expression had gone stiff, her ears fallen flat. Naofumi blinked. "Something wrong?"

"Um…No." Raphtalia answered, "just tired."

"Okay." An uncomfortable feeling on his skin made him glance to the side. Kýla was giving him one of the most unimpressed looks he'd ever seen—like he'd failed some kind of test. "What?"

"Nothing." Kýla answered, in a tone that implied it was anything but. Naofumi opened his mouth, but whatever he had been planning to ask was interrupted by the peal of a church bell and a ball of light materializing over their heads.

_"Congratulations Heroes." _Ragna chimed. _"You have passed the final stage of the trial."_

Naofumi let himself fully relax. They really _were_ done. No extra special surprises lying in wait. There was a grinding noise and the iron portcullis blocking the exit rose.

_"You may now proceed to the final chamber to receive you reward. Once more, congratulations."_ With that the ball of light blinked out.

"It had better be something good after all this crap." Ren muttered.

"Yeah sure." Naofumi muttered, moving towards the fallen bow monster. He wasn't sure if he could unlock a shield from its corpse or not. But he had a feeling…

He dismissed the shield prison, and the monster's bow clattered to the floor, still steaming as it cooled from the lightning strike. He certainly couldn't wield it, but it didn't look like a bow meant for people. And no item screen appeared as he stared at it. Cautiously, Naofumi held out his arm and turned the shield toward the bow.

His shield flashed and the bow vanished. Naofumi grinned as his shield changed shape. It formed into several grey iron plates with a black slit going down the center. There were two iron struts jutting out on either side.

**Murder Hole Shield**

** Active Effects: +33% resistance to ranged damage, 50% chance to completely nullify physical ranged attacks. **

** Active Skill: Hex Bolt—Fire ranged bolt that inflicts a random status ailment on impact, affected by enemy resistances.**

**Passive Effects: +8 Defense, +5 Vitality**

Well, he supposed it had been a bit much to hope he'd get a directly damaging physical attack. But he'd take it. He glanced back, Ren was standing over the dead centaur and holding a sword that looked unnaturally long—must have absorbed the spear. Naofumi wished him luck with that, because he'd be damned if he ever relied on a _spear_ for anything.

He thrust his arm out toward the fallen cervitaur, but nothing happened. Naofumi shrugged. He straightened and turned back toward his companions. "Alright you two." He smiled. "Let's go what we've won."

S&DS&DS&DS&D

**Hmmm. I feel this fight did not turn out as awesome as I'd hoped. **

**But the simple fact is that, while Dark souls' bosses are very intimidating, this is only true only when you are alone. Everything is much easier with friends. **

**Ah well. **

**Let me know what you thought. Till next time!**


	11. One More for the Road

**Woo! Final chapter, it's been a fun journey. There's been several of scenes I've been musing about throughout the process of writing this story, and now I can finally get around to them now that that silly dungeon subplot is out of the way. Character interactions yay! **

**Enjoy.**

**Chapter 11: One More for the Road**

S&DS&DS&DS&D

The chamber beyond the final boss room was as simplistic as any of the rooms they'd seen so far. A plain stone dais sat in the center and as they approached, Ragna appeared over it.

_"Congratulations heroes, upon completing this trial." _The magical construct chimed.

"Uh huh, sure." Ren answered irritably. "Where's our reward?"

_"Playing trial completion message."_

The ball of light flashed and suddenly there was a man sitting on the dais. Or, at least, an image of a man. His body was translucent, like a hologram and he wasn't looking directly at them, instead staring somewhere over their heads. Naofumi's eyes were immediately drawn to the figure's hands, which were clutching a very familiar looking bow. A past Bow Hero?

_"Hello."_ The man said, still not looking at any of them. "_If you are seeing this, that means you have completed my little trial. Hopefully, all three of you made it through in one piece."_

"Three of you?" Naofumi echoed.

_"Now I bet I know what the three of you are thinking," _the figure went on. _"Hálfviti, you bastard, why the hell did you put us through this? And the answer has three parts." _ The man lazily held up a hand. "_One; Your teamwork is garbage. You may not see it, being in the thick of things, but as the Bow Hero, I'm in the back lines and have been a personal witness to how often you three chucklefucks get in each other's way, almost always nearly getting yourselves killed in the process."_

"Is this message actually for us?" Kýla asked. "I feel like he's talking to someone else."

` The figure scowled. _"Do you lot understand that the fate of this world is, quite literally, in our hands? If we screw up, everyone here will die. More to the point, if we fail, all four of us will die. You think we're gonna be sent back to our worlds if we die? I doubt it. Two," _he stuck up another finger. _"You lot are a bunch of hormonal idiots and need to learn to keep it in your pants."_

"What is this nonsense?" Ren demanded.

_"Hopefully, my trials forced you to work together, giving you a chance to see eye to eye and work out your issues. Truth be told, I don't care how you resolve your drama. Break up, decide to each see other people, have a series wild threesome and get it out of your systems, as long you get your crap together during the waves, I couldn't give a shit."_

"Yeah, this isn't about us." Naofumi sighed. This was clearly about some kind of interpersonal drama between past heroes. It seemed that his group of cardinal heroes weren't the only dysfunctional group of idiots this world had been saddled with. How was it still in one piece?

_"Three," _the Bow hero stuck up a third finger. _"And I'm going to need you to listen on this one, okay?"_ He paused and took a deep breath._ "Frankly, I just don't like any of you."_ He shrugged. _"I'm a spiteful asshole." _

Well. _That_ was certainly something Naofumi could empathize with, even if he been on the receiving end of it. The frustration in the man's voice struck a chord within him. If he could have made the other three heroes go through any kind of trial, what would he have thrown at them? Nothing pleasant, that's for sure.

"_But," _the man went on._ "I'm also a spiteful asshole who wants to survive and go home. So, on that note, your reward for completing my trial._ _On one of the quests I took abroad to get away from you lot, I found a relic that provides a blessing to those who fight during the waves. I could have kept it for myself, lord knows I would make better use of it. But in the spirit of jolly cooperation and practicing what I preach, I've decided to split it up amongst us. You're welcome, you ungrateful pieces of shit." _The man paused, sighed and looked up… "_Alright._ _Ragna, I think I've got it out of my system. We can start recording the actual message I'll leave the others…" _There was a long pause. The man frowned. "_…already locked in? I thought you said I could do multiple recordings?... No?" The man was silent for a long moment. "Well…Shit." He sighed. "Maybe they'll join forces in order to come after me. Whatever works," _He waved his hand wearily._ "You can stop recording now, Ragna."_

The projection flickered and the man disappeared.

_"Message ends." _Ragna said. _"That was the creator of this dungeon and myself. I hope you'll take his words of wisdom to heart."_

"It's certainly given me something to think about," Naofumi said dryly. Maybe it was the exhaustion from the events of the past few hours, but he couldn't help the smirk crossing his face . "Ren," he said lightly. "I think our friend from the past is right. We should see other people."

The swordsman shot him an unamused look that suggested he wanted Naofumi to go off and do something anatomically unlikely.

_"And now, it is time for your reward."_ Ragna glowed and several balls of light appeared and floated above their heads.

Naofumi saw a status screen pop into existence.

**Blessing Bestowed: Light of the Lost Heroes—You and your party will receive a 10% buff to all stats during Wave Events.**

Well, that certainly got straight to the point.

_"Trial complete, returning Heroes to the entrance."_ Ragna chimed, and everything lit up with a brilliant light. By the time the glare faded and vison returned, Naofumi saw they were all standing in the first chamber once more. The floor was back and the door was opening, revealing the dim light of the evening sky beyond.

_"Farewell Heroes, and good luck." _Ragna began to fade, sinking back toward the stone bell before disappearing completely.

"Well that's that, I guess." Naofumi shrugged, making for the exit and stepping out into the open air. It was good to see the sky again.

"It's getting late, Master Naofumi." Raphtalia pointed out. "By the time we reached the city, it'd be morning."

"No need to rush." Naofumi shrugged. "Let's just set up camp off the road and spend the night here."

"Of course." Raphtalia nodded, moving toward the wagon. "I will set up a campfire and start making preparations for dinner."

"Thanks," Naofumi nodded. "I'll join you in a minute."

"You could just teleport to the castle." Ren pointed out, raising an eyebrow at him. "It's faster, and they would provide you with food and beds."

"Could, don't want to." Naofumi yawned. "I like traveling by wagon, it gives me time to plan out what I want to do next. Also, I don't like sleeping in the castle. I keep expecting to wake up to Bitch trying to put a knife in me." He snorted. "Not that she'd have the attack stat to pull it off. You lot want to join us for the night?"

Ren stared at him. "…Why would I do that?"

Naofumi scowled. "Okay man, I was just offering. No need to be a dick about it."

"Lord Ren," Kýla said. "I'd actually like to take the Shield Hero up on his offer." She yawned. "Spending a night in the countryside sounds nice."

"Yeah," Naofumi smirked. "Didn't you ever go camping? We can make friendship bracelets."

"I have been camping." Ren said sourly. "And I didn't care for it. But seriously, why do you want us to? I thought you'd be eager for us to be gone."

"Well, actually, there is something else I wanted to discuss with you before you went running off." Naofumi admitted.

"And what's in it for me?"

Naofumi rolled his eyes. "How about… I'll give you a list of things for you to absorb with your shield. It'll save you time."

Ren scoffed. "I'm fully capable of figuring that out for myself."

"Is that a fact?" Naofumi said mildly, glancing at the ground. The side of the road was overgrown with plants. He moved toward a cluster of familiar looking stems, crouched and plucked one of them from the bunch. He turned and held it out to Ren. "Here, absorb this."

"…That's a weed." Ren answered, unimpressed.

"Actually, it's balmleaf. A staple ingredient for most healing potions. If your sword is like my shield it'll unlock a sword of basic herbology."

"And I would want that because...?"

Naofumi gave him an unimpressed look. "Because…" he said slowly, as if talking to a hyperactive toddler. "It will give you a minor stat boost, and then unlock the access to more advanced forms in the herbology tree. All of which will give you more stat boosts. I had to figure all this out through trial and error, but if you spend just twenty minutes of your time listening to me, it'll save you days of work."

Ren scowled at him for a long moment, then snatched the plant and held it in front of his sword. There was a brief glow and then his sword turned green, the blade widening slightly until it was shaped like a large palm tree leaf.

Ren took a moment to glance over his screen. "It doesn't say it's a herbology sword." He said at length. "It's says it's an herbicide blade that gives bonus damage against plant monsters."

"Okay, obviously the Sword would focus more on giving damaging skill then the shield." Naofumi shrugged, rolling his eyes. "I was wrong, does it really matter?"

Ren sighed, as though _everything _was just being so _troublesome._ "Fine. What do you want to talk about?"

Naofumi's stomach rumbled. "Eh, Dinner first, talk after."

* * *

Filo put her hands on the edge of the wagon and hauled herself up. Everyone else had settled around the fire and Master was busy preparing something to eat—her mouth was already watering at the thought.

But Master had told her many times that he didn't want her hanging over him while he cooked, saying something about how she kept sneaking stuff out of the pot before it was done. But that was okay, because she had something else she wanted to take care of before she forgot.

She glanced around the interior of the wagon, frowning at all the boxes and crates piled up along sides. She loved her wagon, but now that she thought about it, she didn't really spend a lot of time _inside_ it. She knew what she was looking for was in here somewhere, but she didn't know where.

Oh well, she'd find it. It would be like a scavenger hunt!

The first crate was a bust, just a bunch of bottles full of icky smelling potions, the second had some rocks and pieces of shiny metal master used for crafting. The third was a barrel and oooh! so _that's_ where master kept her feedbag for the road, she'd need to remember that one!

While she munched on a handful of feed, she reached for a chest near the front of the wagon. Undoing the latch, she threw open the chest and saw a bunch of cloth. This was it! She pulled rifled through the chest and found what she was looking for near the bottom.

Hugging the cloth to her chest she hopped out of the wagon and zipped back toward the others.

"Hey, Wizard Guy!"

The man looked up as she stopped before him, hands behind her back. "Yes, Miss Filo?"

"Here, Filo want you to have this!" She shoved the bundle of cloth into his lap. He blinked, and held up the object.

"Is this… a new cloak?"

Filo nodded. "Uh huh, cause your other one got all torn up."

"Oh." The wizard smiled. "How thoughtful…" he paused examining the cloth, his eyes went wide. "Is this…" he swallowed "Is this phoenix silk?"

"I dunno." Filo said. "Master got it after a skeleton wizard. But none of us are wizards so we can't use it. Filo thinks he was going to sell it, but she wants to give it to you instead."

"B-but this has to be worth at least ten times what my cloak…was—" he trailed off under the weight of her blank stare. "Er… are you sure the Shield Hero will be okay with you giving this to me?"

Filo shrugged. She hadn't asked. But if master had a problem with it, she'd just tell him it was fine. "Filo wants you to have it because she's sorry for…" she looked down, biting her lip. "What she did."

"I…see." Wizard Guy nodded. "Well…" he smiled, "I accept your apology, I understand you didn't mean to… destroy my cloak."

Filo smiled, a weight in her stomach she hadn't really been aware of easing. "You know, Filo," Wizard Guy went on thoughtfully. "I noticed that you were capable of rudimentary wind magic."

Filo blinked, but nodded. She could blow her enemies away if she didn't feel like beating them to death with her talons. But it wasn't quite as fun.

"Well, if you desired, I believe I could teach you a few advanced spells in that elemental field that you might find helpful, if you were interested."

Filo tilted her head to one side. "Like what?"

"Well, wind magic has never been my strongest element, but I do know the theory behind an advanced wind magic known as Storm Cage. Essentially, it creates a whirlwind that traps the target within and slices them with blades of air. I've never been able to perform it, but I imagine with the magical power of a filolial queen such as yourself behind it, the results will be quite impressive.

Filo stared at him with wide eyes.

That. Sounded. AMAZING!

"Yeah! Filo wants to learn that!"

Wizard Guy smiled, "Then have a seat." He said, patting the ground beside him. "I'll tell you how it works, and then you can find a monster or two to try it on. While I observe…" then, after a thoughtful pause, he added. "From a safe distance."

* * *

"Hmm. We're don't have any meat left." Naofumi commented, eyeing the stew pot that Raphtalia had set up for him.

"Leave that to me, Master." Raphtalia answered, drawing her sword. "I saw a den of dire rabbits a little way down the road when we arrived. I should be able to catch one without issue."

"Hmmm. Alright." He nodded. "I'll start boiling the water and get some spices ready."

"I'll be back soon." She slipped away, leaving him alone at the fire with that monk girl.

"She's a sweet kid." Kýla commented, watching the swordswoman made her way down the road.

Naofumi nodded glancing around. Filo and Galdur were some distance away, the wizard pointing at a page in a book and holding it out for Filo to see. Which made him blink; as far as he was aware, Filo had never touched a book in her life. Did she even know how to read? He hadn't taught her. Maybe the shield passed on the knowledge to her?

As for Ren, after the swordsman had been told that dinner wouldn't be ready for an hour or so, he'd gone off, saying that he would hunt down some nearby monsters to feed to his sword. Naofumi wished him luck with that, hopefully the guy wouldn't get lost.

"She's plenty strong too, hard to believe she's only been fighting for a few months." Kýla went on. He glanced at her, wondering what she wanted. He'd talked with Raphtalia for a few minutes after they'd left the cave. Apparently, the monk had left a good impression on her.

"I know," he commented. "I'm lucky to have her."

"And from what I hear, she'd lucky to have you as well…" Kýla said. "Hard to believe she's only ten years old."

"I'm aware." He nodded. "She looked it when I met her, but she leveled up fast once she was in my party. Took me by surprise."

"I can imagine. I've often thought that's why people get so nervous around them; they can grow strong so much faster than humans." She paused for a moment. "Of course, just cause they get stronger, doesn't mean they learn everything that comes with age. Sometimes they can miss out on…" she hesitated. "Important information if nobody tells them.

Naofumi looked up at her, an eyebrow raised. Was she implying that she thought Raphtalia was ignorant or something? "I suppose that's true…" he said neutrally, searching the monk's expression for any ill intent. If she had approached him just to badmouth his companion, then they were going to have a _problem._

The monk hesitated, then shrugged. "Alright, I'll just come out and say it. I think someone needs to give Raph the Talk."

…What?

"…The talk?" Naofumi echoed, squinting at her.

"You know." Kýla nodded, "The balloons and the bees?"

Naofumi blinked, feeling that this conversation had suddenly gone off the rails. "Why is this important to you?" he demanded, narrowing his eyes on her. "Are you planning on making a move on her or something? Is that what this is? You're asking me for permission or some crap?"

"Uh…" Now Kýla was staring at him blankly.

"Seriously," Naofumi grumbled. "Half the merchants in the kingdom bend over backwards when she smiles at them, and now I've got to deal with adventurers—"

"Yeah, I'm going to interrupt your fantasies right there. I'm not into girls." Kýla said firmly. "That's not what this is."

"…Oh." Naofumi paused, suddenly feeling like an idiot. "Then what's this about?" he demanded. "She hardly needs to know any of that to fight off the waves. She can learn all about it when she's older."

Kýla pursed her lips, looking away. "You know what? Never mind." She sighed. "Now that I really think about, I suppose it would be rather cruel for Raph to have to get The Talk from _you_ of all people."

Naofumi narrowed his eyes at her. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

Kýla's gaze snapped back to his and she stared at him for long, _long _moment. "You _really_ don't know?" she asked flatly.

"No." Naofumi grit his teeth slightly. "if you've got something to say to me, just spit it out."

"No, no," Kýla shook her head, raising her hands in a sign of surrender. "I've got nothing that it's _my_ place to say." She smiled disarmingly, "Don't worry about it, Shield Hero. I didn't mean any offense."

"Master Naofumi, I managed to secure some meat for…the…" Raphtalia trailed off as they both looked at her. "Er…" she looked back and forth between them. "What were you talking about?"

"You." Kýla said brightly, strolling over to her. "He was just telling me about how lucky he is to have you in his life."

"O-oh." Raphtalia blinked, looking at him with wide eyes. He nodded; he _had _said that, and he certainly wasn't going to bring up what they'd just been discussing, not with Raphtalia. "I…uh…" Raphtalia swallowed, staring at him with a strange look on her face. "I'm…quite grateful to have you in my life as well, master."

"Yeah, you tell him, Raph." Kýla said, throwing one arm around Raphtalia's shoulders and plucking the dire rabbit from her hand. She tossed the meat to Naofumi, forcing him to catch it awkwardly. "There you go, Shield Hero. Now, we'll leave you to your work. As it is, Raph and I need to go off and have a little chat."

"But," Raphtalia began. "I was going to help Naofumi prepare dinner."

"I'm sure he can handle it." Kýla answer, waving away the demi-human's concerns. "Besides, I think that us having this chat will be _much_ more helpful to the two of you than preparing one meal."

Raphtalia's eyes met his, looking confused. But he shrugged. He didn't really get a sense of malice from Kýla, and if she wanted to take it on herself to tell Raphtalia about that stuff then it wasn't really a big deal. She'd learn about it eventually anyway.

"Okay…" she said reluctantly letting herself be led away. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Oh, I don't _want_ to talk to you about this," he heard Kýla say as they moved away. "It's more of an… obligation. A personal favor from me to you."

Naofumi stood over the stew pot, clutching the dead rabbit and watching them move away, suddenly feeling very unsure about the situation. But… he shook his head. This probably wasn't his concern. Although maybe he'd need to check after the fact to make sure the monk didn't put any weird ideas in Raphtalia's head…

* * *

"Naofumi."

Naofumi glanced up from the cooking pot at the sound of his name. Ren was standing behind him, arms crossed and looking less than pleased. Must not have had much luck tracking down monsters for his sword. Hopefully he wasn't about to start bitching about how he didn't like stew or something.

"Yeah?"

"What is you wished to talk to me about?"

Naofumi frowned at the swordsman, well he supposed he could appreciate how to-the-point Ren was. "Two things, actually." Naofumi said at least. "But they tie together." He took a sip of the food and then pulled a vial of salt out of the crate and sprinkling it into the pot. "Let's start with the queen."

"What about her?"

"As you know, she lured us both here on false pretenses. Why she did it was obvious."

"She wanted us to _cooperate._" Ren spoke the last word like it was something squishy he'd accidently stepped in. Naofumi understood what he meant. It made sense that the heroes were supposed to work together. There shouldn't have been any reasonable objections to the concept.

It was just that the other heroes were entitled little pricks and he always got left cleaning up their messes. Naofumi stirred the pot a little more vigorously, trying to push down those thoughts. They may be true, but they also weren't helpful.

He didn't appreciate the queen's methods—he'd had _more_ than his fill of deceitful royalty. But he also couldn't deny that this trial dungeon had given them some results. He was having a serious conversation with Ren and neither of them were on the verge of blowing up. Not to mention, the fact that Ren knew about how to enhance his sword now meant he'd likely soon be strong enough to pick up his slack on the future waves.

He didn't like it, but he also didn't want to be the broody teenager complaining about something that was objectively beneficial. That stunk far too much of the way the other Heroes behaved. But…

He narrowed his eyes, thinking hard. He was going to have a chat with the queen after this. He'd probably have been willing to go along with this if she'd just explained. But she'd chosen to lie to him instead. He intended to let her know in no uncertain terms that if she did this _again…_

Well. He'd heard there was a country of Demi-humans who worshipped the Shield Hero. Maybe it would finally be time for him to go visit other places. There was more to the world than Melomarc after all.

Still, he probably shouldn't tell Ren about that. It wouldn't help the current conversation.

"She's not wrong to want that." He said at length. "But I get what you mean."

"I wish she would stop sticking her nose in our business." Ren muttered. "We're already fighting the waves for her, what more does she want?"

Probably for them to be strong enough to succeed but saying that out loud wouldn't improve Ren's mood.

"That's another reason I wanted you to stick around for a little bit." Naofumi said. "If we want her to let us get on with it, we need to convince her we're up to the challenge."

"What?" Ren raised an eyebrow. "And us sharing a meal in the middle of nowhere is supposed to accomplish that?"

"Yes, actually." Naofumi answered. "Think about it, Ren. How much you wanna bet that some of her shadows are watching us right now to report what we're doing to her?"

Ren started with a scowl, looking around as though he expected to see someone dressed in black to peering out at them from behind a tree. "Spying on us?"

"Basically, yeah." Naofumi shrugged. She was the queen. Surrounded by nobles who lied at the drop of a hat, it was small wonder that she had spies everywhere to tell her what was actually going on. He'd do the same. "So, since our actions are being directly reported back to her. How do you think it will look to her if we spent the evening sharing food and a campfire instead of immediately parting ways?"

"…Like we're on better terms." Ren admitted, not looking at him.

"Yep." Naofumi nodded. "Actions speak louder than words. If she sees us cooperating, she probably won't feel the need to send us to _another_ friendship dungeon."

He fell silent for a few minutes, letting Ren mull it over while he put the finishing touches on the food. Now it just needed to simmer.

"You've got quite the devious mind." Ren said at last.

"Have to." Naofumi answered. "Otherwise Bitch and Trash would have thrown me in a dungeon."

"Alright." Ren sighed. "I'll play along, but I'm teleporting back to the castle first thing in the morning."

"Sure." Naofumi nodded. "But there was one other thing…" he hesitated. "The other heroes."

"What about them?" Ren asked, raising an eyebrow.

"They should probably be told about the weapon enhancement thing. I was wondering if you could help with that because, you know, you're at least on speaking terms with them."

"And why would I do that?" Ren demanded. "You're the one who owes them the information."

"Because otherwise they'll probably eat shit and die in the future waves, and then you and I will have to do all the work." Naofumi said. "Also, I'm pretty sure they won't believe it coming from me. They're…" Naofumi took care to keep his expression neutral. "Not as reasonable as you."

"…That's true." Ren sighed.

_Don't say anything. Don't look at him. You won't be able to keep a straight face._

"I suppose I'd be willing to pass the information on to one of them. Whenever I next see them."

…Well, Naofumi supposed that was the best he was going to get. "Thanks. Anyway, dinner's ready."

* * *

Raphtalia's face was on fire.

Maybe not literally, but she wouldn't have been surprised if it was smoking with how red she knew her face had turned.

"So," Kýla said thoughtfully. "Actually, I think that about covers all the stuff you'll need to know about." Raphtalia stood stock still, staring at the monk. She'd thought Kýla was her friend. Why had she put her through this?

"Raph?" Kýla waved a hand in front of her face. "You alright there? Did you have any questions? Or did you need me to go over it again?"

"No!" Raphtalia blurted. "No. I got it the first time. I… why?"

Kýla raised an eyebrow. "Really? You can't think of a single reason this information might be important for you to know?"

"No!"

Kýla grinned. "Okay Raph, the whole blockhead thing is kind of endearing coming from the Shield Hero. But you're cute enough that you don't need it."

"W-what does Master Naofumi have to do with any of this?" Raphtalia demanded, her head swirling with new thoughts and concepts she wasn't totally sure she was comfortable with.

* * *

"…What do _you_ think he has to do with it?" Kýla asked. "Are you sure I don't need to go back to the 'when a man and a woman…' bit?"

"What!?"

Kýla's grin, somehow, got bigger. It should have been against the law for anyone to show that much teeth. "Well," she said lightly. "You probably aren't aware of it, but when you're talking or thinking about him, you get this certain kind of look on your face…"

"I don't want to talk about this anymore!" Raphtalia covered her ears, trying to block out whatever it was Kýla thought she knew.

"Alright, alright." Kýla held up her hands and leaned back. "If that's how you feel about it Raph, that's fine. I just thought this information would be something you'd like to have."

"Why would I have wanted to know this!?" she demanded. How was she supposed to look Master Naofumi in the face now? Every time she tried, she just knew she was going to be picturing Kýla's grinning face and hearing the… things she'd described.

"Well, look at it this way." Kýla said reasonably. "Now you know that you can kiss the Shield Hero as much as you want and not have to worry about getting preg…Raph? Raphtalia? Oh wow. You _actually_ fainted. That is _adorable._"

* * *

Naofumi yawned and waved as the morning sun climbed into the sky. He gave a lazy wave as Ren drew his sword, his companions beside him.

"See ya, around Raph." Kýla waved.

"Farewell, Kýla." Raphtalia nodded back.

The monk grinned. "And good luck with what we talked about."

Naofumi glanced at his companion. Raphtalia hadn't said much to him last night, she wasn't avoiding him, but she didn't seem to be willing to meet his eyes. He made a note to get her to tell him exactly what the monk had spoken to her about, just to make sure she was alright.

"Goodbye Miss Filo." Galdur said.

"Bye Wizard Guy!" Filo waved. "Thanks for the windy spell. I'm gonna use it on the next dragon I see."

"You…do that." Galdur grinned, just a touch nervously. "Try not to cause too much collateral damage."

"What's collateral damage?" Filo asked.

"…Oh." The wizard met Naofumi's gave and grinned sheepishly.

"I'll keep an eye on her." He sighed. He met Ren's gaze. The swordsman gave him a brief nod, before raising his sword. There was a flash of light and the Sword Hero and his companions disappeared.

"Well, that's that." Naofumi yawned again. "Glad that's over."

"It could have been worse, Master Naofumi."

"I suppose." He shrugged. He could have been trapped in that place with Motoyasu. "Come on guys. Let's get out of here."

"Yes Master." They chorused at him, Filo running back to take up her place in front of the wagon. Naofumi hauled himself onto the driver's seat. And settled down with a relieved sigh. "Let's head back to the castle." He said, prompting Filo to jerk the wagon into motion. They could have teleported back themselves, of course. But Naofumi had grown attached to traveling by wagon, and he wanted time to think over what he was going to do next.

The dungeon had actually strengthened them substantially. Perhaps it was time to start looking around for new party members… Naofumi glanced toward Raphtalia. She was sitting beside him on the driver's seat, although she still wasn't quite looking at him. Her armor was still beaten up, so was his. They'd need to visit Erhard to get that fixed.

But… meh. That could all wait.

Naofumi smiled to himself as he leaned back. Such thoughts could wait. They had time for the next wave. For the next few hours, he had nothing to look forward to except the open road, the absence of courtly politics, and the presence of the two people who mattered most to him in this entire world.

He intended to enjoy it.

S&DS&DS&DS&D

** And… that's a wrap.**

** I think that's a good place to end this story. I got all the remaining scenes I wanted to do out of my system. Huzzah!**

** I think it came out fine, except for the fact that Naofumi came out way more chill than he probably should have been. I didn't capture his simmering anger or resentment that's always below the surface…**

** Oh well. Maybe he smoked, like, a crap-ton of weed before my story began. It mellowed him out. Yeah. Let's go with that.**

** Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed my story!**


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